Comparison of a distant galaxy cluster in X-ray and visible light

Composite of x-ray and visible light views of a distant cluster of galaxies
Visible light view of a distant galaxy cluster discovered in the XXL survey
Drag green handle to reveal images

This slider comparison image superimposes an X-ray image of a distant cluster (the blue pixellated image, from ESA's XMM-Newton satellite) on top of a ground-based view of the sky (from the Canada France Hawaii Telescope). Some of the brightest X-ray objects are galaxies with brilliant centres powered by supermassive black holes. The cluster at the centre of the picture shows up as an extended patch of X-ray emission, coming from hot gas.

Credit

ESA/XXL survey consortium/Canada France Hawaii Telescope

About the Image Comparison

Id:eso1548a
Release date:15 December 2015, 12:00
Related releases:eso1548

Images

Composite of x-ray and visible light views of a distant cluster of galaxies
Composite of x-ray and visible light views of a distant cluster of galaxies
Visible light view of a distant galaxy cluster discovered in the XXL survey
Visible light view of a distant galaxy cluster discovered in the XXL survey