Astronomy Picture of the Day 3-28-02

NASA ^ | 3-28-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 March 28

Centaurus Galaxy Cluster in X-Rays
Credit: 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.

[petuniasevan]

Extremely hot gases are the X-ray source in this nearby galactic cluster in the southern constellation Centaurus.

[petuniasevan]

APOD PING!

[petuniasevan]

Ask to be added to the APOD PING list!

[riley1992]

I look forward to this immensely. Thank you for the flag.

[RightWhale]

This X-ray view is a whole new look at galaxy clusters. It's possible to see some of the member galaxies yourself if you have a good sky and a decent amateur scope. Unfortunately, the scope is the easy part. Good sky is something most of us will hardly ever see again.

[fnord]

always neat pics ... add me to your ping list please in case I miss them.

[petuniasevan]

Will do.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Thanks for the ping, petuniaseven.

Keep 'em coming.

[farmfriend]

Cool, thanks.

[Dawgsquat]

I'm getting educated on these threads. Great stuff. Keep 'em coming.

[MozartLover]

Ooo this is a pretty one!

[aomagrat]

Far Out!