Chandra Release - March 10, 2016

Visual Description: MACS J0416.1-2403 and MACS J0717.5+3745

This two-panel image of 2 galaxy clusters is colored with striking purple, blue, and pink colors. It is a combination of X-ray, optical, and radio astronomical data. The image shows MACS J0416.1-2403 (right) and MACS J0717.5+3745 (left), which are located billions of light-years away from Earth. The images of MACS J0416 and MACS J0717 contain data from three different telescopes: NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (diffuse emission colored in blue), Hubble Space Telescope (red, green, and blue), and the NSF's Jansky Very Large Array (diffuse emission in pink). Where the X-ray and radio emission overlap the image appears purple. The Chandra data shows gas in the merging clusters with temperatures of millions of degrees. The optical data shows galaxies in the clusters and other, more distant, galaxies lying behind the clusters. Some of these background galaxies are highly distorted because of gravitational lensing, the bending of light by massive objects. This effect can also magnify the light from these objects, enabling astronomers to study background galaxies that would otherwise be too faint to detect. Finally, structures in the radio data trace enormous shock waves and turbulence. The shocks are similar to sonic booms, generated by the mergers of the clusters.