Chandra Release - June 4, 2002

Visual Description: NGC 4697

The Chandra X-ray Observatory image of the elliptical galaxy NGC 4697 features a bright, blue blue with little spots of light scattered across it like a string of lights in a garden. The galaxy's shape is reminiscent of an oval or an ellipse, with its long axis oriented horizontally, though tilted up on the right in the image. The blue color of the galaxy stands out against the black background. X-ray data from Chandra reveals diffuse hot gas dotted with many point-like sources. The point-like sources are due to black holes and neutron stars in binary star systems. Material pulled off a normal star is heated and emits X-radiation as it falls toward its black hole or neutron star companion.  The origin of the hot gas cloud enveloping the galaxy is unclear. One possibility is that the gas lost by evaporation from normal stars (so-called stellar winds) is heated by these winds and by supernova explosions.