chandra_559 January 8th, 2014
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Alabama/W.P.Maksym et al & NASA/CXC/GSFC/UMD/D.Donato, et al; Optical: CFHT
A bright, long duration flare may be the first recorded event of a black hole destroying a star in a dwarf galaxy. The dwarf galaxy is located in the galaxy cluster Abell 1795, about 800 million light years from Earth. A composite image of the cluster shows Chandra data in blue and optical data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in red, green and blue. An inset centered on the dwarf galaxy shows Chandra data taken between before and after 2005. The X-ray flare provides evidence that a large black hole has pulled in debris from a star that was torn apart by tidal forces.
Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory
Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2014/a1795/
Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA
Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
Providers | Sign In