Chandra catches cannibal galaxy in the act.

0 Comments | M2 Presswire, June, 2000

M2 PRESSWIRE-7 June 2000-NASA: Chandra catches cannibal galaxy in the act (C)1994-2000 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD RDATE:07062000 NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory image of Perseus A, a supergiant galaxy in the center of a galaxy cluster, provides new insight into how the galaxy has grown by cannibalizing gas and other galaxies in the vicinity.

For the first time astronomers see an X-ray shadow cast by a smaller galaxy as its gas is being stripped away by the enormous central galaxy. The research was reported by Professor Andrew Fabian of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, England on June 7 at the 196th national meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Rochester, N.Y. Other members of the research team are Jeremy Sanders, Stefano Ettori,...