posted by Vern
on Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:01 pm MDT
Astronomers combined images from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii to study collisions in galaxy cluster MACS J0717 located in eastern part of constellation Auriga (R.A. 07h 17m 33s.8, Dec. +37° 45' 20").
Streams of galaxy clusters (known as a filament) are colliding with area already full of matter. Since galaxies are mainly empty space, they do not slow but the clouds of gas collide and heat up. The hottest gas clouds are shown as blue in the image and cooler ones are shown in purple. For more info see www.chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/macs/
Image Credit:NASA, ESA, CXC, C. Ma, H. Ebeling, and E. Barrett (University of Hawaii/IfA), et al., and STScI