Merging Galaxies And Cosmic Collisions

Chandra_123_1024

chandra_123 May 7th, 2002

Credit: NASA/U. Birmingham/A.Read

Chandra's image of Arp 270 shows two galaxies in the early stage of a merger. The hot spots (blue) are thought to be due to the formation of hundreds of thousands of new stars as the two gaseous disks rotate through each other. These bursts of star formation create many massive stars that generate intense winds of hot gas. Eventually, these massive stars explode as supernovas. This violent activity produces the hot gas clouds that surround the galaxy disks (red). In the image, red represents low, green intermediate, and blue high-energy (temperature) X-rays.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2002/arp270/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Object Name
Arp 270
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Grouping > Pair
Galaxy > Type > Interacting

Distance Details Distance

Universescale2
90,000,000 light years
Chandra_123_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 10h 49m 52.1s
DEC = 32° 59’ 5.2”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
4.0 x 4.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Leo Minor

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) -
Green Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) -
Blue Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) -
Spectrum_xray1w
Chandra_123_1280
×
ID
123
Subject Category
C.5.5.1   C.5.1.7  
Subject Name
Arp 270
Credits
NASA/U. Birmingham/A.Read
Release Date
2002-05-07
Lightyears
90,000,000
Redshift
90,000,000
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2002/arp270/
Type
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Chandra, Chandra, Chandra
Instrument
ACIS, ACIS, ACIS
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
X-ray, X-ray, X-ray
Bandpass
X-ray, X-ray, X-ray
Central Wavelength
-, -, -
Start Time
2001-04-28T02:49:57, 2001-04-28T02:49:57, 2001-04-28T02:49:57
Integration Time
19760, 19760, 19760
Dataset ID
2042, 2042, 2042
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
162.4670358, 32.9847782
Reference Dimension
2400.0, 2397.0
Reference Pixel
1201.0, 1199.5
Scale
2.77377e-05, 2.7737719e-05
Rotation
0.04
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
WCS retrieved using CXCs PinpointWCS
Creator (Curator)
Chandra X-ray Observatory
URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu
Name
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Email
cxcpub@cfa.harvard.edu
Telephone
617.496.7941
Address
60 Garden St.
City
Cambridge
State/Province
MA
Postal Code
02138
Country
USA
Rights
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
Publisher
Chandra X-Ray Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
arp270_xray.tif
Resource URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2002/arp270/arp270_xray.tif
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2011-09-02
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
90,000,000 light years

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