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Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня Столкновение скоплений галактик http://www.astronet.ru/db/msg/2007180/eng |
Credit & Copyright: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/C.
Watson et al.; Optical: PanSTARRS;
Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk and P.
Edmonds
Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)
Explanation:
This big beautiful spiral
shines in X-ray light. It is
about 20 times larger than our Galaxy.
It belongs to Abell 2029,
a galaxy
cluster one billion light-years
away.
(To see only the galaxies, hover your cursor over the image, or follow this link.)
Galaxy clusters are the largest
structures in the universe that are supported by
gravity.
Abell 2029 is formed by thousands of galaxies, surrounded
by a huge cloud of hot gas and the equivalent of hundreds of trillions times the
mass of the Sun in dark matter.
The spiral is made of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium, heated to tens of millions
of degrees.
It was found in a recent
study that used data from NASA's Chandra
X-ray Observatory to show that Abell 2029 had a collision with a smaller cluster
four billion years ago.
The collision affected the gravitational field and
caused the intracluster gas to slosh, like wine moving in a wine
glass, shaping the spiral.
Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.