Normal Galaxies & Starburst Galaxies
New Vista of Milky Way Center Unveiled
A dramatic new vista of the center of the Milky Way galaxy from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory exposes new levels of the complexity and intrigue in the Galactic center. The mosaic of 88 Chandra pointings represents a freeze-frame of the spectacle of stellar evolution, from bright young stars to black holes, in a crowded, hostile environment dominated by a central, supermassive black hole.
Wall Divides East and West Sides of Cosmic Metropolis
A new study unveils NGC 604, the largest region of star formation in the nearby galaxy M33, in its first deep, high-resolution view in X-rays. This composite image from Chandra X-ray Observatory data (colored blue), combined with optical light data from the Hubble Space Telescope (red and green), shows a divided neighborhood where some 200 hot, young, massive stars reside.
A Pinwheel in X-rays
M101: A large spiral galaxy about 25 million light years away in the constellation Ursa Majo. More at https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2008/m101/
Huge Russian Dolls Surrounding a Galaxy
M84: A massive elliptical galaxy about 55 million light years away in the Virgo Cluster. More at https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2008/m84/
-Kim Arcand, CXC
When Million-Degree Gas Is Safe
Last week, we put out a press release on an elliptical galaxy known as NGC 4649. Using Chandra data, a group of astronomers measured the temperature of the hot gas around the galaxy to come up with an independent way to measure the size of the gigantic black hole at the center. You can read more about the details in the press release.