Chandra Release - December 9, 1999

Visual Description: Hydra A

The X-ray image of the cluster of galaxies Hydra A features a bright pink and purple glow in the center of a dark blue background. In terms of texture, the image appears somewhat grainy or pixelated, which gives the image a slightly fuzzy appearance, but it does not significantly detract from the overall visual impact of the image. The bright, purple-pink glow at the center stands out as the most prominent feature. This glow has a heart shape with a larger pink glow in an almost H shape beyond it. Hydra A is a galaxy cluster that is 840 million light years from Earth. Chandra X-ray Observatory data reveal a large cloud of hot gas that extends throughout the cluster. The gas cloud is several million light years across and has a temperature of about 40 million degrees in the outer parts decreasing to about 35 million degrees in the inner region.