Dwarf Galaxy Caught Ramming Into a Large Spiral
chandra_546 August 14th, 2013
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Huntingdon Inst. for X-ray Astronomy/G.Garmire, Optical: ESO/VLT
A massive multimillion-degree cloud of gas has been revealed in X-ray data from Chandra (purple) that have been combined with optical data from the Very Large Telescope (blue and white) in this new composite image. The hot gas cloud is likely caused by a collision between a dwarf galaxy and a much larger galaxy called NGC 1232. If confirmed, this discovery would mark the first time such a collision has been detected only in X-rays, and could have implications for understanding how galaxies grow through similar collisions.
Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory
Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2013/ngc1232/
Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA
Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
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Image Details
Distance
Position Details
Color Mapping
- ID
- 546
- Subject Category
- C.5.1.1
- Subject Name
- NGC 1232
- Credits
- X-ray: NASA/CXC/Huntingdon Inst. for X-ray Astronomy/G.Garmire, Optical: ESO/VLT
- Release Date
- 2013-08-14
- Lightyears
- 60,000,000
- Redshift
- 60,000,000
- Reference Url
- http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2013/ngc1232/
- Type
- Observation
- Image Quality
- Good
- Distance Notes
- Facility
- Chandra, VLT, VLT, VLT
- Instrument
- ACIS, FORS1, FORS1, FORS1
- Color Assignment
- Purple, Blue, Green, Red
- Band
- X-ray, Optical, Ultraviolet, Optical
- Bandpass
- X-ray, B, U, R
- Central Wavelength
- 0.8267, 420, 360, 600
- Start Time
- Integration Time
- Dataset ID
- Notes
- Coordinate Frame
- ICRS
- Equinox
- J2000
- Reference Value
- 47.4544059, -20.5758602
- Reference Dimension
- 3600.0, 3600.0
- Reference Pixel
- 1801.0, 1801.0
- Scale
- 3.15393e-05, 3.1539326e-05
- Rotation
- -0.01
- Coordinate System Projection:
- TAN
- Quality
- Full
- FITS Header
- Notes
- WCS retrieved using CXCs PinpointWCS
- Creator (Curator)
- Chandra X-ray Observatory
- URL
- http://chandra.harvard.edu
- Name
- Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
- cxcpub@cfa.harvard.edu
- Telephone
- 617.496.7941
- Address
- 60 Garden St.
- City
- Cambridge
- State/Province
- MA
- Postal Code
- 02138
- Country
- USA
- Rights
- http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
- Publisher
- Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
- Publisher ID
- chandra
- Resource ID
- ngc1232.tif
- Resource URL
- http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2013/ngc1232/ngc1232.tif
- Related Resources
- Metadata Date
- 2013-08-19T10:46:56-04:00
- Metadata Version
- 1.2
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
