Abell 1656, Coma Cluster, Optical
A team of astronomers has discovered enormous arms of hot gas in the Coma cluster of galaxies by using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton. These features, which span at least half a million light years, provide insight into how the Coma cluster has grown through mergers of smaller groups and clusters of galaxies to become one of the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity. Optical data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey appearing in white and blue, features these spectacular arms. Researchers think that these arms were most likely formed when smaller galaxy clusters had their gas stripped away by the head wind created by the motion of the cluster through the hot gas, in much the same way that the headwind created by a roller coaster blows the hats off riders. Coma is an unusual galaxy cluster because it contains not one, but two giant elliptical galaxies near its center. Release date September 19, 2013.
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Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: 117, 1656, 2013, 21st, abell, astronomical, astronomy, body, celestial, century, cluster, coma, cosmography, cosmological, cosmology, cosmos, deep, evolution, galaxies, galaxy, heavenly, image, object, optical, sci, science, sky, space, supercluster, universe
