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Mergers Are in the Stars: Chandra Snaps Galactic Cluster
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Space merger: NASA, Chandra
With the Bank of America courting Merrill Lynch for a buy-out and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. possibly having a buyer announced before Monday's markets, could it be that mergers are in the stars?
Yes, they are --at least 2.3 billion light years away. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory obtained this image of Abell 1689, a cluster of far-flung galaxies, negotiating its own merger.
Chandra's studies of the hundred-million-degree gas indicates that this system was formed by smaller clusters merging. Early analysis suggests that differing, multiple galactic structures, with differing temperatures, came together in this merger.
Chandra was launched from the Space Shuttle Columbia, commanded by Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, in July 1999. Chandra's observation orbit is expected to last for about 30 years.
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