Chandra Release - January 21, 2010

Visual Description: Abell 3627

The composite X-ray and optical image shows a galaxy plunging into Abell 3627, a cluster of galaxies. In this image, there is a large royal blue double streak across the image, tilted to the lower left, with a small bright red-white head.  This dramatic object is in the center of a dark night sky with a generous scattering of tiny pale yellow dots around it. The object resembles a long, elongated tail-like structure with a fainter shadow tail below it. The image shows X-rays from Chandra in blue, optical emission in yellow and emission from hydrogen light -- known as "H-alpha" -- in red. The optical and H-alpha data were obtained with the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope. The streaks are two spectacular tails of X-ray emission that have been seen using the Chandra X-ray Observatory trailing behind a galaxy.    At the front of the tail is the galaxy ESO 137-001. The brighter of the two tails has been seen before and extends for about 260,000 light years. The detection of the second, fainter tail, however, was a surprise to the scientists.  The X-ray tails were created when cool gas from ESO 137-001 (with a temperature of about ten degrees above absolute zero) was stripped by hot gas (about 100 million degrees) as it travels towards the center of the galaxy cluster Abell 3627. What astronomers observe with Chandra is essentially the evaporation of the cold gas, which glows at a temperature of about 10 million degrees.