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Chandra Reveals Curious Cavities in Galaxy Group
By SPACE.com Staff
posted: 11:27 am ET
07 March 2001
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chandra_cluster_010307 A new image from the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals curious cavities in the energy emissions of a distant cluster of galaxies. The group of galaxies, called HCG 62, is a compact cluster compared to some. Researchers think that in the early universe, after galaxies developed, limited groupings such as HCG 62 were formed. Our own Milky Way is part of a compact cluster called the Local Group, comprised of about two dozen galaxies, including the Andromeda Galaxy (M 31) and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Compact clusters are thought to be the building blocks of larger galaxy clusters. Hot gas fills much of the area between the galaxies. The temperature of the gas soars to roughly 18 million degrees Fahrenheit (10 million degrees Celsius). It emits no visible light, but can be measured in the X-ray spectrum. A team of scientists led by Jan Vrtilek at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics produced the image. It uses color differences to show the range of intensity in X-ray emissions. Green depicts the lower-brightness regions while purple and reddish indicate increasing X-ray intensity. Notable in the image are two cavities that appear nearly symmetrically opposite one another (upper left and lower right) in the hot, X-ray emitting gas. These cavities might be explained by the presence of X-ray absorbing material, researchers said, but are more likely due to jets of particles recently emitted from the core of the group's central galaxy, called NGC 4761. But no such jets are visible today. Click here for more news and information about deep-space objects.
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