Abell 1795

CXC Logo
Chandra X-ray
Observatory Center
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden St. Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
Abell 1795: A cluster of galaxies in the constellation Boötes.
(Credit: NASA/IoA/AC Fabian et al.)

Caption: Chandra has found a "cool" filament of gas in the galaxy cluster Abell 1795. This structure is some 200,000 light years long (the long string-like feature in the middle of this image). The gas in the filament has a temperature of about 30 million degrees Celsius, cooler than the surrounding gas in the cluster. As the gas in the cluster core radiates away its energy, it drifts toward regions where gravity is strongest. The enormous elliptical galaxy located at the head of the filament could have pulled the gas inward into its wake as it passed through the core of the cluster and created the filament.

Scale: Image is 75 arcsec on a side.

Chandra X-ray Observatory ACIS Image

CXC operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory