Buy this 1E 0657 space photo. High quality Chandra picture, slide, or Duratrans backlit transparency. NASA photo 1E 0657. Wide variety of sizes. 1E 0657-56 - An extremely hot galaxy cluster about 4 billion light years from Earth. A bow-shaped shock wave located near the right side of the cluster was revealed in Chandra's image of 1E 0657-56. The shock wave is thought to be the result of the merger of a smaller group or sub-cluster of galaxies with 1E 0657-56. As the cooler, 70 million degree, gas in the sub-cluster plows through 100 million degree gas in the main cluster at speeds of 6 million miles per hour two effects can be measured - a wind created by the motion of the sub-cluster strips away some of the cooler gas, and the leading edge of the shock wave heats the nearby region to 180 million degrees. Astronomers hope to use this and future observations to determine if the high temperature of the cluster gas may be due to shocks waves produced by the merger of many sub-clusters. February 20, 2002 Credits: NASA/SAO/CXC/M. Markevitch et al. CXC operated for NASA by Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory |