A new eye-catching compilation of images is being released that features data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory along with a host of other telescopes including NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope and more.
As NASA’s flagship X-ray telescope, Chandra observes many different exciting phenomena that produce energetic and spectacular action. There are nine objects in this new space-based light pageant, ranging from nearby pockets of star formation to distant galaxies with giant black holes. Moving left to right, they are:
Top row:
N79 is a giant region of star formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite neighbor galaxy to the Milky Way. Chandra sees the hot gas created by young stars, which helps astronomers better understand how stars like our Sun formed billions of years ago.
[X-rays from Chandra (purple) and infrared data from Webb (blue, grey and gold)]
NGC 2146 is a spiral galaxy with one of its dusty arms blocking the view of the galaxy’s center from Earth’s perspective. X-rays from Chandra show double star systems and hot gas that is being driven away from the galaxy by supernova explosions and winds from giant stars.
[X-rays from Chandra (pink and purple), optical data from Hubble and the Las Cumbres Observatory in Chile and infrared data from NSF’s Kitt Peak (red, green and blue)]
IC 348 is a star-forming region in our Milky Way galaxy. The wispy structures that dominate the image are interstellar material that reflect the light from the cluster’s stars. The point-like sources in Chandra’s X-ray data are young stars in the cluster developing there.
[X-rays from Chandra (red, green and blue) and Webb infrared data (pink, orange and purple)]
Middle row:
M83, a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way, is turned face-on toward Earth. This provides an unfettered view of the entire galaxy that is often impossible with different orientations. Chandra has detected the explosions of stars, or supernovas, and their aftermath across M83.
[X-rays from Chandra (red, green and blue) with ground-based optical data (pink, gold and gray)]
M82 is a so-called starburst galaxy where stars are forming at rates tens to hundreds of times higher than normal galaxies. Chandra sees supernovas that produce expanding bubbles of multimillion-degree gas that extend for millions of light-years away from the galaxy's disk.
[X-rays from Chandra (purple) with Hubble optical data (red, green, and blue)]
NGC 1068 is a relatively nearby spiral galaxy containing a black hole at its center that is twice as massive as the Milky Way’s. Chandra shows a million-mile-per-hour wind is being driven from NGC 1068’s black hole and lighting up the center of the galaxy in X-rays.
[X-rays from Chandra (blue), radio data from NSF’s VLA radio data (pink), and optical data from Hubble and Webb (yellow, grey and gold)]
Bottom row:
NGC 346 is a young cluster home to thousands of newborn stars. The cluster’s most massive stars send powerful winds and produce intense radiation. X-rays from Chandra reveal output from massive stars in the cluster and diffuse emission from a supernova remnant, the glowing debris of an exploded star.
[X-rays from Chandra (purple) with optical and ultraviolet from Hubble (blue, brown and gold)]
IC 1623 is a system where two galaxies are in the process of merging. As the galaxies collide, they trigger new bursts of star formation that glow dramatically in certain kinds of light. The merging galaxies may also be in the process of forming a supermassive black hole.
[X-rays from Chandra (magenta) with Webb infrared data (red, gold and gray)]
Westerlund 1 is the biggest and closest “super” star cluster to Earth. Data from Chandra and other telescopes is helping astronomers delve deeper into this galactic factory where stars are vigorously being produced. Observations from Chandra have uncovered thousands of individual stars pumping out X-ray emission into the cluster.
[X-rays from Chandra (pink, blue, purple and orange) with Webb infrared data (yellow, gold and blue) and Hubble optical data (cyan, grey and light yellow)]
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
This release is centered around a compilation of nine composite images, all featuring data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The images are presented in a three-by-three grid, and all include pinks and purples as dominant colors.
In the first row, at our upper left, is an image of N79, a giant star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Here, shafts of golden light bursting out of a central glowing orb cut through misty purple clouds. Beside it, to our right, is an image of a spiral galaxy known as NGC 2146. Shown from the side, the galaxy resembles a streaky, tilted disk of purple cloud with a glowing golden haze at the center. Completing the top row, at the upper right of the three-by-three grid, is an image of IC 348, a star-forming region in our Milky Way galaxy. This other-worldly image resembles a tangle of dark pink hair dotted with dozens of colorful orbs in various sizes.
The first image in the middle row features the M83 spiral galaxy. Here, the disk-shaped galaxy is viewed face-on, with mottled, dusty-rose arms spiraling around a central golden core. To the right, in the center of the grid, is the M82 starburst galaxy. In this image, the tilted, powder blue, disk-shaped galaxy is viewed edge-on. Bursting out of the core in opposite directions, perpendicular to the disk, are giant, hazy purple gas clouds that extend for thousands of light-years. Beside it, at our right edge of the grid, is an image of NGC 1068, a relatively nearby spiral galaxy. This neighbor is viewed face-on, with its tightly packed golden arms and faint purple clouds spiraling around a hazy core. There, million-mile-per-hour winds swirl around a glowing black hole.
In the bottom row, at our lower left, is an image of NGC 346, a cluster of newborn stars. Here, hundreds of gleaming white dots with blue halos, and thousands of tiny specks, pack a misty purple cloud. Beside it, to our right, is an image of IC 1623, a system where two galaxies are in the process of merging. Backed by hot pink tendrils, swirls of speckled orange, and gauzy steel blue ribbons, two white clusters meet, gleaming with golden shafts of light. And finally, at our lower right hand corner, is Westerlund 1, Earth’s biggest and closest neighboring “super” star cluster. Here, scores of gleaming white orbs and tiny specks pack the blackness of space, surrounded by a purple haze, and mottled golden clouds.
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