NASA's Chandra Finds Largest Galaxy Cluster in Early Universe
chandra_499 December 1st, 2010
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Rutgers/J.Hughes et al, Optical: ESO/VLT/Pontificia Universidad. Catolica de Chile/L.Infante & SOAR (MSU/NOAO/UNC/CNPq-Brazil)/Rutgers/F.Menanteau, IR: NASA/JPL/Rutgers/F.Menanteau
This galaxy cluster, which has been nicknamed "El Gordo" for the "big" or "fat" one in Spanish, is a remarkable object. Found in the distant Universe by Chandra and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, El Gordo appears to be the most massive, the hottest, and gives off the most X-rays of any known cluster at its distance or beyond. In this composite image of El Gordo, X-rays are blue, optical data from the Very Large Telescope are red, green, and blue, and infrared emission from Spitzer is red. The comet-like shape of the X-rays, along with optical data, show that El Gordo is actually the site of a collision between two galaxy clusters, similar to the well-known Bullet Cluster.
Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory
Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2012/elgordo/
Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA
Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
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JPG (1.83 MB) Source File
Image Details
Distance
Position Details
Color Mapping
| Telescope | Spectral Band | Wavelength | |
|---|---|---|---|
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Chandra (ACIS) | X-ray (X-ray) | 826.7 pm |
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SOAR (SOI) | Optical (R-band) | 616.5 nm |
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SOAR (SOI) | Optical (I-band) | 748.1 nm |
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SOAR (SOI) | Optical (Z-band) | 893.1 nm |
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VLT (FORS2) | Optical (R-band) | 616.5 nm |
|
|
VLT (FORS2) | Optical (I-band) | 748.1 nm |
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VLT (FORS2) | Optical (Z-band) | 893.1 nm |
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Spitzer (IRAC) | Infrared (Near-IR) | 3.6 µm |
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Spitzer (IRAC) | Infrared (Near-IR) | 4.5 µm |
- ID
- 499
- Subject Category
- D.5.5.3 D.5.1.7
- Subject Name
- El Gordo, ACT-CL J0102-4915
- Credits
- X-ray: NASA/CXC/Rutgers/J.Hughes et al, Optical: ESO/VLT/Pontificia Universidad. Catolica de Chile/L.Infante & SOAR (MSU/NOAO/UNC/CNPq-Brazil)/Rutgers/F.Menanteau, IR: NASA/JPL/Rutgers/F.Menanteau
- Release Date
- 2010-12-01
- Lightyears
- 7,166,000,000
- Redshift
- 0.87
- Reference Url
- http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2012/elgordo/
- Type
- Observation
- Image Quality
- Good
- Distance Notes
- Facility
- Chandra, SOAR, SOAR, SOAR, VLT, VLT, VLT, Spitzer, Spitzer
- Instrument
- ACIS, SOI, SOI, SOI, FORS2, FORS2, FORS2, IRAC, IRAC
- Color Assignment
- Blue, Purple, Blue, Green, Purple, Blue, Green, Red, Orange
- Band
- X-ray, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Infrared, Infrared
- Bandpass
- X-ray, R-band, I-band, Z-band, R-band, I-band, Z-band, Near-IR, Near-IR
- Central Wavelength
- 0.8267, 616.5, 748.1, 893.1, 616.5, 748.1, 893.1, 3600, 4500
- Start Time
- 2011-01-26T09:37:27
- Integration Time
- 60000
- Dataset ID
- 12258
- Notes
- Coordinate Frame
- ICRS
- Equinox
- J2000
- Reference Value
- 15.7305338, -49.2609679
- Reference Dimension
- 3600.0, 3600.0
- Reference Pixel
- 1801.0, 1801.0
- Scale
- 2.47682e-05, 2.4768245e-05
- Rotation
- 0.02
- 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
- 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 Observatory Center
- Publisher ID
- chandra
- Resource ID
- elgordo.tif
- Resource URL
- http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2012/elgordo/elgordo.tif
- Related Resources
- Metadata Date
- 2012-01-10T15:28:58-05:00
- Metadata Version
- 1.2
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
