Chandra Release - August 16, 2007

Visual Description: Abell 520

 This multi-wavelength image of Abell 520 shows the aftermath of a complicated collision of galaxy clusters, some of the most massive objects in the Universe. In this image, hot gas as detected by Chandra is colored red-purple. Optical data from the Canada-France-Hawaii and Subaru telescopes shows the starlight from individual galaxies in yellow and orange. The location of most of the matter in the cluster is in blue, and was also found using these telescopes, by tracing the subtle light-bending effects on distant galaxies. Overall, the dominant colors in this image are red-purple and blue, with small white dots (stars and galaxies) scattered throughout the background like a sea of lights. The brightly colored hot gas and cluster matter appears as a large, splotchy and irregularly shaped object in the center of the image, like a network of filamentary and clumpy material.