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Credit & Copyright: J. Sanders, A. Fabian,
(IoA Cambridge),
NASA
Explanation:
The Centaurus
Cluster is a swarm of hundreds of galaxies a
mere 170 million light-years away.
Like other immense
galaxy clusters, the Centaurus Cluster
is filled with gas at temperatures of 10 million degrees or more,
making the cluster a luminous source of
cosmic x-rays.
While individual galaxies are not seen here,
this
false-color x-ray image from the
Chandra
Observatory does reveal striking details of the
central region's hot cluster gas,
including a large twisted plume about 70,000 light-years long.
Colors represent temperatures indicated by the x-ray data with
red, yellow, green, and blue shades ranging in order from cool to hot.
The plume of gas alone is estimated to contain material equivalent
to about one billion times the mass of the Sun.
It may be a wake of gas condensing and
cooling along the path of
the massive, dominant
central galaxy moving through the cluster.
Tomorrow's picture: galaxy fishing
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Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Centaurus cluster - cluster of galaxies
Publications with words: Centaurus cluster - cluster of galaxies
See also: