Description: This color-coded Chandra image (red/low energy, green/medium energy, and blue/high energy X-rays) shows the central region of the Andromeda Galaxy where a diffuse, X-ray emitting cloud of hot gas was discovered in the midst of a collection of point-like sources. The point sources are associated with binary star systems that contain a neutron star or black hole that is pulling matter away from a normal star. The diffuse X-ray cloud is due to gas that has accumulated in the central region and been heated to millions of degrees, probably by supernova explosions. The energy input from the supernovas could also be driving gas out of the central region. This process may affect both the shape and evolution of the galaxy.

Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray

Date: c. 1999

Persistent URL: photography.si.edu/SearchImage.aspx?id=2506

Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Collection: Normal Galaxies and Starburst Galaxies Collection

Gift line: NASA/UMass/Z.Li & Q.D.Wang