Tag Archive for 'Chandra'

Bogdán et al. and Goulding et al. combined data from Webb and Chandra to identify the growing black hole at the center of UHZ1. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / Bogdán et al. / ESA / CSA / STScI / L. Frattare / K. Arcand.

Growing Supermassive Black Hole Detected in Early Universe

Nov 7, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Observations of quasars reveal that many supermassive black holes were in place less than 700 million years after the Big Bang. However, the origin of...

Composite images of Eta Carinae. Image credit: NASA / SAO / GSFC / Corcoran et al.

Chandra Discovers New Details about ‘Great Eruption’ of Eta Carinae

Sep 27, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers are tracking the expansion of the X-ray nebula around Eta Carinae, a luminous binary system...

A giant black hole in PGC 43234 destroyed a large star and threw its pieces into space; the X-ray data reveal the relative amount of nitrogen compared to carbon in this stellar debris field. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Michigan / Miller et al. / M. Weiss.

ASASSN-14li: Supermassive Black Hole Destroys Massive Star, Throws Its Pieces into Space

Aug 22, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, ESA’s XMM-Newton and other telescopes have found evidence for a massive stellar disruption (over...

SPT-CL J2215-3537 resembles a blue cloud with a hazy golden light at its core. The cluster is set against the blackness of space, which is dotted with white, orange and blue specks of light. A combination of X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, and infrared light, was used to create the image. The blue cloud represents X-ray gas observed by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. The cloud is soft, and uniform in texture. Over time, galaxy clusters often merge or collide. These collisions cause disturbances and sharp features in a cluster’s gas. When a cluster takes on a smooth, calm appearance, as found here in SPT-CL J2215-3537, it indicates that no such collisions have occurred for a very long time. Astronomers call these galaxy clusters ‘relaxed.’ The hazy golden light at the heart of the cloud represents a massive central galaxy with a large amount of star formation. This central galaxy is quite isolated within the blue gas cloud. There are relatively few nearby specks of light near the central galaxy, and none are as bright or as large. No other large galaxies have been found within 600,000 light-years of the central galaxy. This implies that SPT-CL J2215-3537 has not experienced a galaxy merger in the last billion years. Image credit: NASA / CXC / MIT / M. Calzadilla / STScI / HST / N. Wolk.

Chandra Spots ‘Relaxed’ Galaxy Cluster in Distant Universe

Jul 21, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The dynamically relaxed galaxy cluster SPT-CL J2215-3537 is about 8.4 billion light-years from Earth, making it the farthest galaxy cluster ever spotted...

IXPE and Chandra images have been combined to show X-ray data of the area around Sagittarius A. The lower panel combines IXPE data, in orange, with Chandra data in blue. The upper panel depicts a much wider field-of-view of the center of the Milky Way. The thin white lines layered onto the top panel frame the highlighted area, and indicate that the perspective in the bottom panel has been rotated approximately 45 degrees to the right. The combination of IXPE and Chandra data helped the astronomers determine that the X-ray light identified in the molecular clouds originated from Sagittarius A* during an outburst approximately 200 years ago. Image credit: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center / Marin et al. / CXC / SAO / L. Frattare / J.Major / K.Arcand.

IXPE Detects 200-Year-Old Flare from Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole

Jun 22, 2023 by News Staff

The center of the Milky Way Galaxy hosts Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole with a mass of about 4 million solar masses that is very quiescent....

An artist’s impression of a jet emanating from NGC 4993. Image credit: J.A. Biretta et al / NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / Sci-News.com.

Astronomers Detect Variability in Extragalactic X-ray Jets

May 30, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers discovered only relatively recently that black hole jets emit X-rays, and how the jets accelerate particles to this high-energy state is a...

This composite image features four separate images that combine X-ray data from Chandra and infrared data from Webb, and some data from other telescopes like Hubble, Spitzer and XMM-Newton. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / ESA / XMM-Newton / CSA / STScI / JPL / CalTech / ESO / L. Frattare / J. Major / K. Arcand.

Webb Captures Two Galaxies, Star-Forming Nebula, and Star Cluster

May 24, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

New images that combine data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and several space- and ground-based telescopes show spiral galaxies NGC 1672...

Illustration of an Earth-like exoplanet after X-ray radiation exposure. Image credit: NASA / CXC / M. Weiss.

X-Ray-Luminous Supernovae Pose Threat to Earth-Like Planetary Atmospheres, Study Says

Apr 20, 2023 by News Staff

The aftermaths of supernovae always produce X-rays, but if the supernova’s blast wave strikes dense surrounding gas, it can produce a particularly large...

Kosec et al. mapped the winds associated with the accretion disk around Hercules X-1, a binary system located 6,600 parsecs (21,526 light-years) away in the constellation of Hercules. Image credit: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT / D. Klochkov, ESA.

Astronomers Map Colossal ‘Disk Winds’ in Hercules X-1

Apr 12, 2023 by News Staff

Hercules X-1 is an X-ray binary system in which a neutron star is drawing material away from a Sun-like star. This neutron star’s accretion disk is unique...

This artist’s concept shows the brilliant glare of two quasars residing in the cores of two galaxies that are in the chaotic process of merging. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Joseph Olmsted, STScI.

Merger of Two Massive Disk Galaxies Produces Dual Quasar

Apr 5, 2023 by News Staff

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and other space and ground-based observatories, astronomers have discovered SDSS J0749+2255, a closely bound...

This artist’s impression shows the evolution of the Universe beginning with the Big Bang on the left followed by the appearance of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the cosmic dark ages, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Astrophysicists Find New Evidence for Standard Model of Cosmology

Apr 4, 2023 by News Staff

Astrophysicists from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have measured the X-ray emission from galaxy clusters, which revealed...

This image features 3C 297 that is lonelier than expected after it likely pulled in and absorbed its former companion galaxies. In this new composite image, Chandra data is colored purple, VLA data is red and Gemini data is green. Visible light and infrared data from Hubble (blue and orange respectively) have also been included. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Torino / Missaglia et al. / ESA / STScI & International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / NRAO / AUI / NSF.

Chandra Finds Surprisingly Lonely Galaxy in Early Universe

Mar 9, 2023 by News Staff

3C 297 is located about 9.2 billion light-years away in the constellation of Virgo and contains a quasar, a supermassive black hole pulling in gas at the...

Two dwarf-dwarf galaxy mergers in galaxy clusters Abell 133 (left) and Abell 1758S (right) are shown in X-rays from Chandra and optical light from the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope. The merger on the left is in a late stage and was given the single name of Mirabilis. The other merger is in the early stages and the two dwarf galaxies are named Elstir (bottom) and Vinteuil (top). Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Alabama / Micic et al. / International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA.

Chandra Spots Two Pairs of Supermassive Black Holes on Collision Courses

Feb 23, 2023 by News Staff

According to observations and cosmological simulations, dwarf galaxies are the most abundant type of galaxies in the early Universe and the galaxy merger...

This composite image shows at least three galaxy clusters colliding in a jumbled scene. The resulting giant galaxy cluster, known as Abell 2256, resembles a grainy, pixilated, sky blue cloud topped with licks of flaming red hair. The cloud is adorned with red shapes and streaks, and set against a black background heavily dotted with colorful specks. The image combines X-ray, radio, optical, and infrared data. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Bolonga / Rajpurohit et al. / ESA / XMM-Newton / LOFAR / ASTRON / NCRA / TIFR / GMRT / NSF / NRAO / VLA / Pan-STARRS.

Astronomers Capture Ongoing Collision of Three Galaxy Clusters

Feb 1, 2023 by News Staff

Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, ESA’s XMM-Newton and three radio telescopes (the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, the Low Frequency Array,...

This artist’s conception shows the galaxy merger and its two central black holes. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / M. Weiss, NRAO, AUI & NSF.

UGC 4211’s Pair of Supermassive Black Holes is Closest to Colliding Ever Seen

Jan 11, 2023 by News Staff

While close together in cosmological terms at just 750 light-years apart, or 6x the black hole sphere of influence, the supermassive black holes in the...

This composite image shows one of the studied clusters, NGC 3293, which is 11 million years old and is located about 8,300 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Carina. The image contains X-rays from Chandra (purple) as well as infrared data from ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory (red), longer-wavelength infrared data from NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope (blue and white), and optical data from the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory appearing as red, white and blue. Image credit: NASA / CXC / Penn State University / Getman et al. / ESA / JPL-Caltech / Herschel Space Observatory / IPAC / SSC / Spitzer Space Telescope / MPG / ESO / G. Beccar.

Astronomers Trace Evolution of X-Ray Activity in Young Sun-Like Stars

Dec 27, 2022 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s Gaia satellite have studied a sample of 6,003 stars in 10 different open clusters with...

An artist’s impression of a hot Jupiter in a binary stellar system. Image credit: NASA / CXC / M. Weiss.

Hot-Jupiter Exoplanets Slow Down Aging Process for Their Host Stars

Nov 3, 2022 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton spacecraft, astronomers have looked for the effects of massive, close-in planets...

This Chandra image shows the LTT 1445 system: LTT 1445A is the fainter source at the center of the image with the brighter resolved binary LTT 1445 BC. Image credit: NASA / Chandra / Brown et al., arXiv: 2209.11314.

Chandra Detects X-ray Emission from Exoplanet-Hosting Triple Star System

Oct 11, 2022 by Natali Anderson

The triple star system LTT 1445, at a distance of 22.5 light-years, hosts some of the nearest rocky planets. This Chandra image shows the LTT 1445 system:...

These images span a range of different types of objects, including a cluster of galaxies (SMACS J0723.3-7327), a galaxy group (Stefan’s Quintet), a star-forming nebula (Carina Nebula), and a galaxy (Cartwheel Galaxy). In each image, the X-rays from Chandra show higher-energy processes than the infrared view from Webb. Additionally, infrared data from Spitzer is included in the Stephan’s Quintet composite. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / Spitzer / JPL-Caltech / Webb / ESA / CSA / STScI.

Chandra Adds X-ray Data to Webb’s Infrared Images

Oct 5, 2022 by News Staff

The Stephan’s Quintet, the Cartwheel Galaxy, the galaxy cluster SMACS J0723.3-7327, and the Carina Nebula were among the first publicly released images...

This composite image shows SNR 0519-69.0, a Type Ia supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud: X-ray data from Chandra with low, medium and high energies are shown in green, blue, and purple respectively, with some of these colors overlapping to appear white; optical data from Hubble shows the perimeter of the remnant in red and stars around the remnant in white. Image credit: NASA / CXC / GSFC / Williams et al. / STScI.

Astronomers Determine Age of Supernova Remnant in Large Magellanic Cloud

Sep 14, 2022 by News Staff

Light from a Type Ia supernova explosion that created the supernova remnant SNR 0519-69.0 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky...

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