Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Colossal Hot Cloud Envelopes Colliding Galaxies

Colossal Hot Cloud Envelopes Colliding Galaxies:

NGC 6240

Scientists have used
Chandra to make a detailed study of an enormous cloud of hot gas
enveloping two large, colliding galaxies. This unusually large
reservoir of gas contains as much mass as 10 billion Suns, spans
about 300,000 light years, and radiates at a temperature of more
than 7 million degrees.

This giant gas cloud,
which scientists call a "halo," is located in the system called NGC
6240. Astronomers have long known that NGC 6240 is the site of the
merger of two large spiral galaxies similar in size to our own
Milky Way. Each galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its
center. The black holes are spiraling toward one another, and may
eventually merge to form a larger black hole.

Another consequence of the collision between the galaxies
is that the gas contained in each individual galaxy has been
violently stirred up. This caused a baby boom of new stars that has
lasted for at least 200 million years. During this burst of stellar
birth, some of the most massive stars raced through their evolution
and exploded relatively quickly as supernovas.

The scientists involved with this study argue that this
rush of supernova explosions dispersed relatively high amounts of
important elements such as oxygen, neon, magnesium, and silicon
into the hot gas of the newly combined galaxies. According to the
researchers, the data suggest that this enriched gas has slowly
expanded into and mixed with cooler gas that was already
there.

During the extended baby boom, shorter
bursts of star formation have occurred. For example, the most
recent burst of star formation lasted for about five million years
and occurred about 20 million years ago in Earth's timeframe.
However, the authors do not think that the hot gas was produced
just by this shorter burst.

More at http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2013/ngc6240/

-Megan Watzke, CXC









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