NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory Releases New Gallery of 16 Galaxy Images

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has released a new gallery of 16 galaxy images, combining decades of Chandra's X-ray data with observations from other telescopes, including NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope, IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer), the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, and NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array). Astronomers group galaxies into three broad types: spirals like the Milky Way, ellipticals that are older and likely formed by mergers, and irregulars that cover a wide range of galactic phenomena.

X-rays reveal gas superheated to millions of degrees by winds from massive stars, outflows from supermassive black holes, and debris from exploded stars, key sources of the elements in our bodies, the air we breathe, and our planet. In the edge-on Whale Galaxy (New General Catalogue, or NGC, number 4631) and the starburst Cigar Galaxy (Messier 82), Chandra data reveal giant halos and superwinds of million-degree gas driven thousands of light-years into space by bursts of star explosions, enriching intergalactic space with these elements.

The gallery also highlights active galactic nuclei, growing supermassive black holes at galaxy centers that send energy outward in outbursts and jets. In Centaurus A, Chandra and IXPE data expose a high-energy particle jet blasting tens of thousands of light-years from the galaxy's central engine. In the Sombrero Galaxy (Messier 104), Chandra's X-rays map a diffuse halo of million-degree gas and hot stellar remnants surrounding a supermassive black hole embedded in the galaxy's stellar bulge.

Other images capture galaxies mid-transformation. In Arp 143, a direct collision acts like a cosmic bullseye, creating an expanding ring galaxy and triggering waves of new star birth. Violent mergers such as NGC 3256 reveal the kind of chaotic collisions that dominated the early universe, previewing the Milky Way's eventual merger with the nearby Andromeda galaxy.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program, while the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Chandra X-ray Center runs science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.