Buy this Abell 2104 space photo. High quality Chandra picture, slide, or Duratrans backlit transparency. NASA photo Abell 2104. Wide variety of sizes. Abell 2104 - Cluster of galaxies 2 billion light years from Earth. Chandra's observation of A2104 revealed six bright X-ray sources due to active supermassive black holes located in red galaxies. This surprised astronomers, because powerful X-ray emission from black holes requires large supplies of interstellar gas to feed the black holes, and red galaxies -- composed of older stars - are thought to have a sparse supply of gas. One possibility is that a galaxy can retain a supply of gas and dust deep in its core near the supermassive black hole, even in the harsh environment of a galaxy cluster. September 13, 2002 Credits: NASA/CXC/P.Martini et al. CXC operated for NASA by Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory |