Chandra Release - March 5, 2001

Visual Description: HCG 62

The Chandra X-ray Observatory image shows Hickson Compact Group 62 (HCG 62), a compact group of galaxies located in the constellation Canes Venatici at a distance of approximately 100 million light-years away from our own Milky Way galaxy. The Chandra image in fluorescent greens with a hot pink and orange core shows remarkable detail and complexity in the central region of HCG 62. Such galaxy groups, which contain fewer galaxies than the better-known galaxy clusters, are an important class of objects because they may serve as cosmic building blocks in the large-scale structure of the universe. After galaxies themselves form in the early universe, such groups of galaxies may be the next systems to evolve. The most striking features of this X-ray image of HCG 62 are the 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, but are more likely due to jets of particles recently emitted from the core of NGC 4761, the central elliptical galaxy of HCG 62, although no such jets are visible today.