This most distant x-ray cluster of galaxies yet has been found by astronomers using Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO). Approximately 10 billion light-years from Earth, the cluster 3C294 is 40 percent farther than the next most distant x-ray galaxy cluster. The existence of such a faraway cluster is important for understanding how the universe evolved. CXO’s image reveals an hourglass-shaped region of x-ray emissions centered on the previously known central radio source (seen in this image as the blue central object) that extends outward for 60,000 light- years. The vast clouds of hot gas that surround such galaxies in clusters are thought to be heated by collapse toward the center of the cluster. Until CXO, x-ray telescopes have not had the needed sensitivity to identify such distant clusters of galaxies. Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound structures in the universe. The intensity of the x-rays in this CXO image of 3C294 is shown as red for low energy x-rays, green for intermediate, and blue for the most energetic x-rays. (Photo credit: NASA/loA/A. Fabian et al) 

Date of Image: 
2000-10-01 
Category: 
History of Chandra X-Ray Observatory 
term: 
Chandra X-Ray Observatory 
term: 
CXO 
term: 
Galaxy Cluster 
facet_what: 
Earth 
facet_what: 
Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO) 
facet_where: 
Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) 
Reference Number: 
MSFC-75-SA-4105-2C 
MIX #: 
0200207 
NIX #: 
MSFC-0200207 
MSFC Negative Number: 
0200207 
UID: 
SPD-MARSH-0200207 
original url: 
http://mix.msfc.nas… 
Image ID: 
162189 
Resolution Size: 
5 
Format: 
JP2 
Media Type: 
Image 
File Name: 
0200207.jp2 
Width: 
3000 
Height: 
3000