Chandra Archive Collection
Credit NASA/CXC/SAO
Credit NASA/CXC/SAO
Chandra Archive Collection:
This is the season of celebrating, and the Chandra X-ray Center has prepared a platter of cosmic treats from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to enjoy. This selection represents different types of objects — ranging from relatively nearby exploded stars to extremely distant and massive clusters of galaxies — that emit X-rays
detected by Chandra. Each image in this collection blends Chandra data
with other telescopes, creating a colorful medley of light from our
Universe.
Top row (left to right):
E0102-72.3
This supernova remnant
was produced by a massive star that exploded in a nearby galaxy called
the Small Magellanic Cloud. X-rays from Chandra (blue and purple) have
helped astronomers confirm that most of the oxygen
in the universe is synthesized in massive stars. The amount of oxygen
in the E0102-72.3 ring shown here is enough for thousands of solar
systems. This image also contains optical data from NASA's Hubble Space
Telescope and the Very Large Telescope in Chile (red and green).
Abell 370
Located about 4 billion light years from Earth, Abell 370 is a galaxy cluster
containing several hundred galaxies. Galaxy clusters are the largest
objects in the Universe held together by gravity. In addition to the
individual galaxies, they contain vast amounts of multimillion-degree
gas that emits X-rays, and dark matter
that supplies most of the gravity of the cluster, yet does not produce
any light. Chandra reveals the hot gas (diffuse blue regions) in a
combined image with optical data from Hubble (red, green, and blue).
Messier 8 (M8)
Also known as NGC 6523 or the Lagoon Nebula, Messier 8 is a giant cloud
of gas and dust where stars are currently forming. At a distance of
about 4,000 light years from Earth, Messier 8 provides astronomers an
excellent opportunity to study the properties of very young stars. Many
infant stars give off copious amounts of high-energy light including
X-rays, which are seen in the Chandra data (pink). The X-ray data have
been combined with an optical image of Messier 8 from the Mt. Lemmon Sky
Center in Arizona (blue and white).
Bottom row (left to right):
Orion Nebula
Look just below the middle of the three stars of belt in the
constellation of Orion to find the Orion Nebula, which can be seen
without a telescope. With a telescope like Chandra, however, the view is
much different. In this image, X-rays from Chandra (blue) reveal
individual young stars, which are hot and energetic. When combined with
radio emission from the NSF's Very Large Array (purple), a vista of this
stellar nursery is created that the unaided human eye could never
capture.
Messier 33 (M33)
The Triangulum Galaxy, a.k.a., Messier 33, is a spiral galaxy about 3
million light years from Earth. It belongs to the Local Group of
galaxies that includes the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. Chandra's
X-ray data (pink) reveal a diverse range of objects including neutron stars and black holes
that are pulling material from a companion star, and supernova
remnants. An optical image from amateur astronomer Warren Keller (red,
green, and blue) shows the majestic arms of this spiral galaxy that in
many ways is a cousin to our own Milky Way.
Abell 2744
This composite image contains the aftermath of a giant collision
involving four separate galaxy clusters at a distance of about 3.5
billion light years. Officially known as Abell 2744, this system is also
referred to by astronomers as "Pandora's Cluster" because all of the
different structures found within it. This view of Abell 2744 contains
X-ray data from Chandra (blue) showing hot gas, optical data from Subaru
and the VLT (red, green and blue), and radio data from the NSF's Karl
G. Jansky Very Large Array (red).
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages
the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in
Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, controls Chandra's science and flight operations.
Source: NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory
