Gas Clouds Strike A Delicate Balance

Chandra_118_1024

chandra_118 April 4th, 2002

Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/A.Vikhlinin et al.

Chandra's image shows two large central galaxies, NGC 4889 (left) and NGC 4874 (right), embedded in a vast 100 million-degree Celsius gas cloud that pervades the cluster. Of particular interest are the concentrations of cooler (10 to 20 million-degrees) gas around these galaxies. The clumps of gas, which are 10,000 light years in diameter, are thought to have been produced by matter ejected from stars in the galaxies over a period of about a billion years. The clouds' temperature is thought to be maintained by a delicate balance between energy lost by X-radiation and energy gained by heat conduction from the hot gas of the cluster.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2002/0150/

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

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

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Coma Cluster

Distance

Universescale3
310,000,000 light years
Chandra_118_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 12h 59m 52.8s
DEC = 27° 57’ 16.7”
Orientation
North is 2.0° CW
Field of View
15.8 x 15.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Coma Berenices

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Purple Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) 826.7 pm
Spectrum_xray1
Purple
Chandra_118_1280
×
ID
118
Subject Category
Subject Name
Coma Cluster
Credits
NASA/CXC/SAO/A.Vikhlinin et al.
Release Date
2002-04-04
Lightyears
310,000,000
Redshift
0.023
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2002/0150/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Chandra
Instrument
ACIS
Color Assignment
Purple
Band
X-ray
Bandpass
X-ray
Central Wavelength
0.8267
Start Time
1999-11-04T19:27:01
Integration Time
9780
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
194.9698317, 27.9546508
Reference Dimension
2495.0, 2408.0
Reference Pixel
1248.5, 1205.0
Scale
0.000105544, 0.00010554412
Rotation
-2.03
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 Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
0150_xray.tif
Metadata Date
2011-08-11T14:30:23-04:00
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
310,000,000 light years

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