Chandra Release - February 15, 2001

Visual Description: 3C294

3C294 is an astronomical image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory  that features a cluster of galaxies at a distance of 10 billion light years away. The image is dominated by red, green, and blue dots, creating a colorful representation of the galaxy cluster. In the center of the image, there is a bright blue spot, which stands out from the rest of the galaxy cluster and is the previously known radio galaxy. Chandra's X-ray image reveals an hourglass-shaped region of X rays surrounding that radio galaxy. The intensity of the X-ray emission is shown in red (low-intensity), green (intermediate), and blue (highest observed energies). The vast clouds of hot gas that surround clusters of galaxies are thought to be heated by the collapse toward the center of the cluster.