Chandra Release - May 28, 2019

Visual Description: Fornax Cluster

This image shows the region around NGC 1399 and NGC 1404, two of the largest galaxies in the Fornax galaxy cluster. The dominant colors in the image are bright magenta-purple and black, with 2 large clumps of magenta, a larger one at noon and a smaller one at 8 o'clock. The clumps have small bright white cores and are surrounded by tiny bright pink dots across the dark background. By combining 15 days' worth of Chandra X-ray Observatory time of Fornax, spread out between 1999 and 2015, astronomers discovered that about 30 pairs of stars - or "binaries" - had been expelled from galaxies in the cluster. This can happen when one of the binary's stars explodes as a supernova and forms a neutron star. The recoil from the explosion can kick the star so that it is expelled from its home galaxy. The Chandra results show that sometimes a neutron star's companion star can be forced to exit the galaxy as well.