February 22nd, 2002del.icio.us Digg Reddit StumbleUpon
Bow Shock in a Merging Galactic Cluster
Written by Fraser Cain
A new image taken by the Chandra X-Ray observatory reveals a bow-shaped shock wave towards one side of an extremely hot galactic cluster. Astronomers believe that the shock wave is caused by 70 million degree Celsius gas is ploughed through the cluster at a speed of 10 million kph. This cluster is of great interest to astronomers because it's one of the hottest clusters ever found - astronomers think that the galaxy might have gotten so hot because it absorbed many smaller clusters in the past.
Filed under: Astronomy
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