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Animations & Video
Groups & Clusters of Galaxies
 |  | Abell 2597 Animation
Relics of an ancient eruption in a cluster of galaxies known as A2597 have been found by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. These relics, called "ghost cavities", appear as voids in the X-ray and radio emission. The discovery implies that galaxy clusters are the sites of recurring energetic explosions. |
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Tour of Macs J0025.4-1222
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Two galaxy clusters, each a quadrillion times the mass of the Sun, collided to form the system formally known as Macs J0025.4-1222. When these clusters merged at speeds of millions of miles per hour, the hot gas in each cluster collided and slowed down, but the dark matter in each system did not. Optical images from Hubble were used to infer the distribution of the total mass, which includes dark matter, using a technique known as gravitational lensing. This is seen as blue in the image. Chandra data enabled astronomers to accurately map the position of the ordinary matter, mostly in the form of hot gas, which glows brightly in X-rays and is colored pink in the composite. The separation between the pink and the blue provides direct evidence for the existence of dark matter.
In some ways, Macs J0025 can be thought of as a prequel to the famous system known as the Bullet Cluster. At a much larger distance of 5.7 billion light years, astronomers are witnessing this collision that occurred long before the Bullet Cluster. This finding is important because it independently verifies the results found for the Bullet Cluster in 2006, and shows once again that dark matter is real.
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(Credit: X-ray(NASA/CXC/Stanford/S.Allen); Optical/Lensing(NASA/STScI/UC Santa Barbara/M.Bradac))
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Animation of Cluster Collision
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This animation shows an artist's representation of the huge collision in the bullet cluster. Hot gas, containing most of the normal matter in the cluster, is shown in red and dark matter is in blue. During the collision the hot gas in each cluster is slowed and distorted by a drag force, similar to air resistance. A bullet-shaped cloud of gas forms in one of the clusters. In contrast, the dark matter is not slowed by the impact, because it does not interact directly with itself or the gas except through gravity, and separates from the normal matter.
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(NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)
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Chandra X-ray Images of Six Galaxy Clusters
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A critically important number that sets the expansion rate of the Universe, the so-called Hubble constant, has been independently determined using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This new value matches recent measurements using other methods and extends their validity to greater distances and thus allows astronomers to probe earlier epochs in the evolution of the Universe. These images show six of the 38 galaxy clusters that scientists observed with Chandra.
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(NASA/CXC/MSFC/M.Bonamente et al.)
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Galaxy Cluster in Perspective
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This motion graphic begins with a close-up of one of the galaxies, a spiral galaxy approximately the same size as the Milky Way, within the galaxy cluster known as 1E 0657-56. The view then pulls out to show over a thousand galaxies in this cluster. These immense objects are among the largest structures in the Universe.
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(NASA/STScI; Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Clowe et al.)
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Sequence of
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This is a sequence of images of the galaxy cluster 1E 0657-56, also known as the bullet cluster. The optical image from the Magellan and the Hubble Space Telescope shows galaxies in orange and white. Hot gas, which contains the bulk of the normal matter in the cluster, is shown by the Chandra X-ray image (pink). Gravitational lensing, the distortion of background images by mass in the cluster, reveals the mass of the cluster is dominated by dark matter (blue). This is the first clear separation between normal and dark matter.
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(X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/M.Markevitch et al. Optical: NASA/STScI; Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Clowe et al. Lensing Map: NASA/STScI; ESO WFI; Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Clowe et al.)
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Animation of Eruption from Supermassive Black Hole
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This animation depicts an eruption caused by a supermassive black hole. Gas and dust (reddish-brown disk) are being pulled around by the enormous gravity of the supermassive black hole, which is buried in the center of a large elliptical galaxy. The animation then zooms out to show the full view of the galaxy, which is surrounded by hot gas (red) that pervades the galaxy cluster. White jets, fueled from material falling onto the black hole, then erupt from the black hole and push gas backwards to create the dark cavities in the cluster gas.
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(NASA/CXC/A.Hobart)
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Chandra Image & Artist Illustration of MS 0735.6+7421
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This sequence shows three frames: the Chandra X-ray image of the galaxy cluster MS 0735, a labeled illustration of the system, then a return to the Chandra image. The two giant cavities (dark red regions) found in the X-ray emitting, hot gas (bright red) in the galaxy cluster are evidence for the massive eruption. A supermassive black hole at the center of the bright X-ray emission caused the eruption.
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(X-ray image: NASA/CXC/Ohio U./B.McNamara et al.; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)
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Enhanced Chandra Images of Perseus Cluster
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Special processing has been used to reveal huge low pressure regions in the Perseus cluster (shown in purple in the accompanying image overlay). These regions appear as expanding plumes that extend outward 300,000 light years from the supermassive black hole at the center of the cluster.
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(NASA/CXC/IoA/J.Sanders et al.)
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Size Comparison of MS 0735.6+7421 & Perseus Cluster
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This sequence compares the physical size of the cavities found in MS 0735.6+7421 and the Perseus cluster, another well-known galaxy cluster with cavities. These two clusters are at very different distances -- Perseus is about 250 million light years away and MS 0735 is almost three billion light years away. To make a direct size comparison, the Perseus cluster is shrunk to simulate its appearance at the farther distance of MS 0735. From this comparison, it is obvious that the cavities in MS 0735 are much larger than those found in Perseus.
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(MS 0735: NASA/CXC/Ohio U./B.McNamara et al.; Perseus: NASA/CXC/IoA/A.Fabian et al.)
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A Closer Look at Abell 2125
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This sequence shows different views of the galaxy cluster known as Abell 2125. The first image is Chandra's X-ray view where red, green, and blue represent low, medium, and high-energy X-rays respectively. The view then dissolves into an image of Abell 2125's core where red is optical emission, and green and blue reveal the X-ray structure. Finally, the sequence zooms into a close-up of C153, a galaxy that's being ripped apart as it travels through the Abell 2125 cluster. Here, the red color represents visible light as seen by Hubble, and green and blue once again show the X-ray emission observed by Chandra.
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(X-ray: NASA/CXC/UMass/Q.D.Wang et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI)
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