Jump to content

File:Arp270 xray 420.jpg

Page contents not supported in other languages.
This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arp270_xray_420.jpg (420 × 419 pixels, file size: 9 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Summary

Description
English: The Chandra image of Arp 270 shows two galaxies about 90 million light years from Earth in the early stage of a merger. The future evolution of these galaxies will be radically changed by the merger as their mutual gravity distorts their shape, and the collision of gas clouds in the galaxies stimulates the formation of new stars.

The hot spots (blue) located where the disks of the galaxies are colliding are thought to be due to the formation of hundreds of thousands of new stars as the two gaseous disks rotate through each other.

These bursts of star formation create many massive stars that generate intense winds of hot gas, and these stars eventually explode as supernovas. This violent activity produces the hot gas clouds that surround the galaxy disks (red).

Astronomers hope to understand more about how supermassive black holes are formed in the centers of galaxies by studying galaxies at different stages in the merging process. These studies will also provide valuable insight as to how our own Milky Way Galaxy formed and evolved.

In the image, red represents low, green intermediate, and blue high-energy (temperature) X-rays.
Date
Source CHANDRA X-ray Observatory CXC Operated for NASA by SAO, url=http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2002/arp270/
Author NASA/U. Birmingham/A.Read
Permission
(Reusing this file)
Images from NASA usually are free of copyright.

Image is 4 arcmin on a side. RA 10h 49m 52.5s Dec +32° 59' 6". Constellation: Leo Minor. Observation date: April 28, 2001. Color code: Lower energy X-rays appear red, medium energy green and high-energy are blue. Instrument: ACIS.

Licensing

Public domain This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
Warnings:

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Items portrayed in this file

depicts

28 April 2001

image/jpeg

35413b461dc2880d57c043b83ec2dbaea452ba27

9,068 byte

419 pixel

420 pixel

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current06:00, 9 December 2009Thumbnail for version as of 06:00, 9 December 2009420 × 419 (9 KB)Marshallsumter{{Information |Description={{en|1=The Chandra image of Arp 270 shows two galaxies about 90 million light years from Earth in the early stage of a merger. The future evolution of these galaxies will be radically changed by the merger as their mutual gravit

The following page uses this file:

Global file usage

Metadata