Portal:Radiation astronomy/X-ray astronomy article/29

These are Chandra X-ray Observatory observations of the central regions of the Perseus galaxy cluster. Credit: NASA/CXC/IoA/A.Fabian et al.

The Perseus Cluster (Abell 426) is a cluster of galaxies in the constellation Perseus. It is one of the most massive objects in the universe, containing thousands of galaxies immersed in a vast cloud of multimillion degree gas.

The detection of X-ray emission from Perseus XR-1 occurred during an Aerobee rocket flight on March 1, 1970. The source may have been associated with NGC 1275 (Per A, 3C 84), and was reported in 1971. More detailed observations from Uhuru confirmed the earlier detection and associated the source with the Perseus cluster.

The image on the right is 284 arcsec across. Right ascension (RA) 03^h 19^m 47.60^s Declination (Dec) +41° 30' 37.00" in Perseus. Observation dates: 13 pointings between August 8, 2002 and October 20, 2004. Color code: Energy (Red 0.3-1.2 keV, Green 1.2-2 keV, Blue 2-7 keV). Instrument: ACIS.