And it’s a cool slingshot
When the giants of space — galaxy clusters — collide, extraordinary things can happen. A new study using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory examines the consequences of a collision between two galaxy clusters.
Galaxy clusters are the largest structures in the universe held together by gravity, containing thousands of individual galaxies immersed in areas of super-hot gas. In galaxy clusters, the normal matter (like the atoms that make up the stars, planets, and everything on Earth) is mostly in the form of hot gas and stars. The mass of the hot gas between the galaxies is far greater than the mass of the stars in all the galaxies. This normal matter is bound in the cluster by the gravity of an even greater mass of dark matter.
Because of the huge masses and speeds involved, collisions and mergers between galaxy clusters are among the most energetic events in the universe!!!! Maybe 100 more exclamation points :D.) In a new study of a galaxy cluster called Abell 1775, located about 960 million light-years from Earth, astronomers led by Andrea Botteon from Leiden University in the Netherlands announced that they found a spiral-shaped pattern in Chandra’s X-ray data. These results imply a turbulent past for the cluster (:(I feel sorry.)
According to the NASA website, “When two different galaxy clusters have a collision, the smaller cluster will begin to move through the larger one. As it moves through, its hot gas is stripped off due to friction. This leaves behind a tail that trails behind the cluster. After the centre of the smaller cluster passes by the centre of the larger one, the gas in the tail starts to encounter less resistance and overshoots the centre of its cluster. This can cause the tail to “slingshot” as it flies to the side, curving as it extends away from the cluster’s centre.”
The newest Chandra data contains evidence — including the brightness of the X-rays and the temperatures they represent — for one of these curving “slingshot” tails. Previous studies of Abell 1775 with Chandra and other telescopes hinted, but did not confirm, that there was an ongoing collision in this system.”
A paper describing the results by Botteon’s team has been published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics and is available online.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Centre manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Centre controls science from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/news/chandra-catches-slingshot-during-collision.html
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