00:00 Visit Chandra's beautiful universe.
00:04 Able 2256.
00:08 Astronomers have captured a spectacular
00:12 and ongoing collision between at least three galaxy clusters.
00:16 Data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory,
00:20 ESO's XMM-Newton, and a trio of radio
00:24 telescopes are helping astronomers sort out what is happening in this
00:28 jumbled scene. Galaxy clusters are some
00:32 of the largest structures in the universe and contain a mixture of galaxies,
00:36 hot gas, and dark matter.
00:40 Over time, these colossal objects can collide and merge with each other
00:44 through their gravitational pull. This is the main way
00:48 that galaxy clusters can grow into the gigantic cosmic edifices
00:52 seen today. Able 2256
00:56 located 780 million light years from Earth, is a scene where
01:00 this process is taking place. Astronomers studying this
01:04 object are trying to tease out what has led to this unusual looking structure.
01:08 Each telescope tells a different part of the story.
01:12 For example, Chandra and XMM-Newton
01:16 can see the multi-million degree gas from the clusters.
01:20 The radio emission in this system arises from an even more complex
01:24 set of sources. The first are the galaxies themselves,
01:28 where the radio signal is generated by particles blasting away in jets
01:32 from supermassive black holes at their centers. Radio
01:36 waves are also coming from a huge filamentary structure, which was likely
01:40 generated when the collision created shock waves and accelerated particles
01:44 in the gas. Astronomers will continue to study this
01:48 complex system to untangle this knot of galaxy clusters and the
01:52 details of the physics taking place there. This will help us learn more
01:56 about how these cosmic giants came to inhabit the universe today.
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