This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Galaxies are like cosmic gems, each with characteristics including size and shape that make them distinct. A new gallery released today from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes displays a collection of galactic images that showcase this variety.
Astronomers put galaxies into three main categories: spirals like our own Milky Way, with arms emanating from their cores; ellipticals that are older and likely the result of mergers; and irregulars that can encompass a wide range of galactic phenomena. Just as gems reveal the history of Earth through how they were forged over billions of years, these galactic gems are a way to study Earth's place in our home galaxy, the Milky Way. By looking outward to other galaxies, we learn more about our own—including clues to its past and future.
There are 16 new images in this galactic gallery. Each one contains X-ray data from Chandra that has been collected across Chandra's decades in space. This high-energy data has been combined with data from telescopes such as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope, IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer), Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array), and others both on the ground and in space.
X-rays are critical for the study of galaxies, revealing unique and important information about these cosmic building blocks. For example, Chandra exposes gas that has been superheated to millions of degrees by winds from massive stars, the outflows from supermassive black holes, and the debris from exploded stars. These are key sources of elements in our bodies, in the air we breathe, and on the planet we live on.
Chandra also sees some of the hottest and most energetic galactic phenomena in the universe, forming a more complete picture of how galaxies live, interact and evolve when combined with data from other types of light and telescopes. Face-on spiral galaxies like Messier 33 and NGC 3938 offer unobstructed views of places where energetic pairs of stars and cosmic explosions live along spiral arms. Barred spirals like NGC 1672 and NGC 1385 show how central bar-shaped collections of stars, gas and dust funnel fuel inward to ignite bursts of star formation.
NGC 4725 reveals how star formation can be triggered by a previous collision with another galaxy. Meanwhile, edge-on views of NGC 4631 (the Whale Galaxy) and the starburst Messier 82 (the Cigar Galaxy) showcase giant halos and superwinds of million-degree gas driven thousands of light-years into space by intense explosions of stars, enriching surrounding intergalactic space with vital elements. Powerful, growing black holes in the cores of their host galaxies, known as active galactic nuclei, send energy outward in outbursts and jets that impact entire galaxies.
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