NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory recently spotted a giant cloud of superheated gas in a galaxy located 60 million light years away from the Earth
Scientists from NASA are constantly trying to study the anatomy and evolution of galaxies and are on a look out for evidence that sheds light on the formation of stars and hot gases in galaxies. Recently, the space agency's Chandra X-ray Observatory spotted a giant cloud of superheated gas in a dwarf galaxy located 60 million light years away from the Earth
According to a press release, researchers speculate that this massive cloud of multimillion-degree gas was formed due to a collision of a dwarf galaxy with a much larger galaxy. If the collision is confirmed to be the cause of the gas cloud formation, this would be the first time that such a collision has been detected through X-rays alone. It could also help researchers better understand how galaxies and stars form due to such collisions.
Images of the collision were obtained by combining X-rays and optical light. The impact caused a shock wave that generated a massive cloud of hot gas, measuring up to 6 million degrees in temperature. The images obtained from Chandra's X-ray data shows this hot gas cloud taking the shape of a comet.
Scientists are yet to determine the mass of the gas cloud as calculations couldn't be made from the two-dimensional pictures obtained by Chandra. Scientists will first have to determine whether the hot gas is concentrated in a thin pancake or distributed over a large, spherical region. In the first case scenario, the mass of the gas cloud could be as much as forty thousand times more than that of the Sun. However, if the hot gas is distributed over a large, spherical region, the mass could be much larger, measuring up to three million times the mass of the Sun. According to initial analyses, scientists predict that the hot gas will continue to glow for ten to hundreds of millions of years, depending on the collision's geometry. Researchers also predict that the collision itself may last for about 50 million years.
