  We investigated the X-ray emission properties of the powerful radio galaxy 3C
459 revealed by a recent Chandra follow-up observation carried out in October
2014 with a 62 ks exposure. We performed an X-ray spectral analysis from a few
selected regions on an image obtained from this observation and also compared
the X-ray image with a 4.9 GHz VLA radio map available in the literature. The
dominant contribution comes from the radio core but significant X-ray emission
is detected at larger angular separations from it, surrounding both radio jets
and lobes. According to a scenario in which the extended X-ray emission is due
to a plasma collisionally heated by jet-driven shocks and not magnetically
dominated, we estimated its temperature to be ~0.8 keV. This hot gas cocoon
could be responsible for the radio depolarization observed in 3C 459, as
recently proposed also for 3C 171 and 3C 305. On the other hand, our spectral
analysis and the presence of an oxygen K edge, blueshifted at 1.23 keV, cannot
exclude the possibility that the X-ray radiation originating from the inner
regions of the radio galaxy could be intercepted by some outflow of absorbing
material intervening along the line of sight, as already found in some BAL
quasars.
