Asymmetric, arc minute scale structures around NGC 1275

ROSAT HRI observations show complicated substructure in the X-ray surface b rightness within similar to 5 arcminutes around NGC 1275 - the dominant gal axy of the Perseus cluster. The typical amplitude of the variations is of t he order of 30% of the azimuthally averaged surface brightness at a given d istance from NGC 1275. We argue that this substructure could be related to the activity of NGC 1275 in the past. Bubbles of relativistic plasma, infla ted by jets, being forced to rise by buoyancy forces, mix with the ambient intracluster medium (ICM), and then spread. Overall evolution of the bubble may resemble the evolution of a hot bubble during a powerful atmospheric e xplosion. From a comparison of the time scale of the bubble inflation to th e rise time of the bubbles and from the observed size of the radio lobes wh ich displace the thermal gas, the energy release in the relativistic plasma by the active nucleus of NGC 1275 can be inferred. Approximate modeling im plies a nuclear power output of the order of 10(45) erg s(-1) averaged over the last similar to 3 10(7) years. This is comparable with the energy radi ated in X-rays during the same epoch. Detailed measurements of the morpholo gy of the X-ray structure, the temperature and abundance distributions with Chandra and XMM may test this hypothesis.