National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently released an image of clusters colliding in Abell 1775, a system where a nearby #galaxy cluster has crashed into a larger one. The image has been circulated by NASA Hubble’s official Instagram account and has gathered over 21,000 likes and 80 comments.
The caption for the image reads, “When the titans of #space — galaxy clusters — collide, extraordinary things can happen. A #new study using NASA’s Chandra examines the repercussions after clusters clashed in Abell 1775, a system where a smaller #galaxy cluster has plowed into a larger one”. Take a look at this beautiful image:
In accordance with Chandra X-ray Observatory, Abell 1775 is a smaller galaxy cluster smashed into a larger one. Using X-rays from Chandra and data from other telescopes, astronomers are piecing together details of this collision. Features in the data, including a curving tail of hot gas and a “cold front,” are clues.
It further states that this is a new image of Abell 1775, which contains X-rays from Chandra (blue), optical data from the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii (blue, yellow, and white), and radio data from the Low-Frequency ARray (LOFAR) in the Netherlands (red).
“The tail is visible in this image along with a region of gas with a curved edge, called a “cold front,” that is denser and cooler than the gas it is plowing into. A spiral pattern is created by the tail and cold front curving in the same direction. The Chandra data field of view is shown in a separate image”, according to NASA Chandra. Scientists will probably need more observations and modeling to get a complete picture of Abell 1775.
