Chandra Locates Mother Lode of Planetary Ore in Colliding Galaxi

Chandra_82_1024

chandra_82 January 7th, 2004

Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/G.Fabbiano et al.

This montage of Chandra images shows X-ray views of The Antennae (top), and a closeup of the system's central region (lower left). These images are color coded to show low (red), medium (green) and high (blue) energy X-rays produced by huge clouds of gas heated to millions of degrees by the collision. Massive stars formed in the gas clouds raced through their evolution in a few million years and exploded as supernovas. Heavy elements manufactured inside these stars were blown away by the explosions and enriched the clouds with heavy elements such as neon, magnesium, silicon and iron. The Chandra image at the lower right is processed and color-coded to show rich deposits of iron (red), magnesium (green) and silicon (blue) elements.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/antennae/

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
Collage
Object Name
The Antennae • Antennae
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Grouping > Pair
Galaxy > Type > Interacting
Galaxy > Type > Interacting
Galaxy > Grouping > Pair

Distance Details Distance

Universescale2
60,000,000 light years
Chandra_82_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 12h 1m 53.1s
DEC = -18° 53’ 10.9”
Orientation
North is 0.1° CW
Field of View
4.7 x 4.7 arcminutes
Constellation
Corvus

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) 4.65 nm
Green Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) 1.333 nm
Red Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) 589.0 pm
Spectrum_xray1
Blue
Green
Red
Chandra_82_1280
×
ID
82
Subject Category
C.5.5.1.   C.5.1.7.   C.5.1.7   C.5.5.1  
Subject Name
The Antennae, Antennae
Credits
NASA/CXC/SAO/G.Fabbiano et al.
Release Date
2004-01-07
Lightyears
60,000,000.0
Redshift
60,000,000.0
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/antennae/
Type
Collage
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Chandra, Chandra, Chandra
Instrument
ACIS, ACIS, ACIS
Color Assignment
Blue, Green, Red
Band
X-ray, X-ray, X-ray
Bandpass
X-ray, X-ray, X-ray
Central Wavelength
4.65, 1.333, 0.589
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
180.4711254, -18.8863568
Reference Dimension
2356.0, 2379.0
Reference Pixel
1179.0, 1190.5
Scale
3.32648e-05, 3.3264817e-05
Rotation
-0.14
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 Observatory Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
antennae_panel.tif
Resource URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/antennae/antennae_panel.tif
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2012-07-30T15:15:32-04:00
Metadata Version
1.2
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
60,000,000 light years

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.