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XMM-Newton Discovers Bullet-Shaped X-ray Emission in Abell 3376
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Image courtesy of Joydeep Bagchi (IUCAA) and ESA.
(for details, see Conditions of Use).
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About this Image
XMM-Newton's EPIC cameras observed Abell 3376 and found a
bullet-like region of X-ray emission from gas at a temperature of 60 million
Kelvin within the cluster. This suggests the cluster is not relaxed but
dynamically active. The investigators believe it is likely that recently two or more smaller clusters
collided and merged, forming what we now see as one large cluster. A smaller group of galaxies collided with the main
body of the larger cluster, generating supersonic shock waves. These propagate
outwards through the surrounding gas at thousands of kilometers per second.
This effect has been seen in the form of ring structures seen in radio and
optical images from the Very Large Array and Digitized Sky Survey.
Investigator(s): J. Bagchi, F. Durret, G.B. Lima Neto, S. Paul
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