Chandra Release - May 12, 2026

Visual Description: Abell 2026  


This release features a composite image of a galaxy cluster with a unique spiral shape, giving it the appearance of a giant galactic seashell floating in the star-speckled blackness of space.

In this composite image, the surrounding stars and individual galaxies appear white, captured in optical light from Pan-STARRS, a telescope in Hawaii. But much of the spiraling cluster is rendered in neon blues, representing X-ray gas observed by Chandra. This super-heated gas fills the space between galaxies, giving the cluster its spiral shape when observed by scientists using an X-ray telescope.

Here, the blue spiral begins as a pale blue dot at the center of the cluster. The spiral stream of light and dark neon blue gas then widens as it moves away from the center of the cluster, gently corkscrewing one full rotation as it extends two-million lightyears into the distance.