Hot Gas In Hydra A
The Hydra A galaxy cluster is really big.
In fact, such
clusters of galaxies
are the largest gravitationally
bound objects in the Universe.
But
individual galaxies are too cool to be recorded
in this false-color
Chandra Observatory X-ray image which
shows only the 40 million degree gas
that permeates the Hydra A cluster.
Astronomers have discovered that such
X-ray hot gas clouds,
millions of light-years across, are common
in galaxy clusters.
They
expected the gas
to be cooling and smoothly flowing into the clusters' central regions
to form new galaxies and stars.
Instead, the Chandra image shows
details around the X-ray bright cluster core
which suggest that magnetic fields and explosive
events disturb the flow, deflecting the gas
into loops and long structures and possibly inhibiting the
formation of more cluster galaxies and stars.