chandra_185 December 4th, 2000
Credit: NASA/IoA/AC Fabian et al.
Chandra has found a "cool" filament of gas in the galaxy cluster Abell 1795. This structure is some 200,000 light years long (the long string-like feature in the middle of this image). The gas in the filament has a temperature of about 30 million degrees Celsius, cooler than the surrounding gas in the cluster. As the gas in the cluster core radiates away its energy, it drifts toward regions where gravity is strongest. The enormous elliptical galaxy located at the head of the filament could have pulled the gas inward into its wake as it passed through the core of the cluster and created the filament.
Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory
Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2000/0163/
Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA
Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
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