Mysterious X-ray Signal Intrigues Astronomers
chandra_571 June 24th, 2014
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/E.Bulbul, et al.
A new study of the Perseus galaxy cluster, shown in this image, and others using Chandra and XMM-Newton has revealed a mysterious X-ray signal in the data. This signal is represented in the circled data points in the inset, which is a plot of X-ray intensity as a function of X-ray energy. The signal is also seen in over 70 other galaxy clusters using XMM-Newton. This unidentified X-ray emission line - a spike of intensity centered on about 3.56 kiloelectron volts - requires further investigation to confirm both the signal's existence and nature. One possibility is this signal is from the decay of sterile neutrinos, one proposed candidate to explain dark matter.
Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory
Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2014/perseus/
Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA
Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
View Options
Download Options
Image Details
Distance
Position Details
Color Mapping
- ID
- 571
- Subject Category
- C.5.5.3
- Subject Name
- Perseus A
- Credits
- X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/E.Bulbul, et al.
- Release Date
- 2014-06-24
- Lightyears
- 250,000,000
- Redshift
- 250,000,000
- Reference Url
- http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2014/perseus/
- Type
- Observation
- Image Quality
- Good
- 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
- 0.62, 0.38, 0.19
- Start Time
- Integration Time
- Dataset ID
- Notes
- Coordinate Frame
- ICRS
- Equinox
- J2000
- Reference Value
- 49.9503574, 41.5117930
- Reference Dimension
- 3600.0, 3600.0
- Reference Pixel
- 1801.0, 1801.0
- Scale
- 5.05773e-05, 5.0577311e-05
- Rotation
- 0.11
- 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
- perseus.tif
- Resource URL
- http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2014/perseus/perseus.tif
- Related Resources
- Metadata Date
- 2014-06-23T15:47:04-04:00
- Metadata Version
- 1.2
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
