Milky Way is Surrounded by Huge Halo of Hot Gas

Chandra_522_1024

chandra_522 September 24th, 2012

Credit: Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss;

Astronomers have used Chandra to find evidence that our Milky Way Galaxy is embedded in an enormous halo of hot gas that extends for hundreds of thousands of light years. This artist's illustration shows the halo of hot gas, in blue, around the Milky Way and two small neighboring galaxies. The mass of the halo is estimated to be comparable to the mass of all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy. If the size and mass of this gas halo is confirmed, it could be the solution to the "missing-baryon" problem for the Galaxy.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2012/halo/

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

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

View Options View Options

Download Options Download Options

Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Artwork
Object Name
Galactic Halo
Subject - Milky Way
Galaxy > Component > Halo
Chandra_522_1280
×
ID
522
Subject Category
B.5.4.4  
Subject Name
Galactic Halo
Credits
Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss;
Release Date
2012-09-24
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2012/halo/
Type
Artwork
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Instrument
Color Assignment
Band
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
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 Observatory Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
halo.tif
Resource URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2012/halo/halo.tif
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2012-09-25T11:58:38-04:00
Metadata Version
1.2
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In

NASA’s Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The award is part of NASA’s Science Activation program, which strives to further enable NASA science experts and content into the learning environment more effectively and efficiently with learners of all ages.