Not everything that glows is gold, but it could be a galaxy. This majestic view is of the Abell 2125 galaxy cluster in the constellation of the Little Dipper, 3 billion light-years from Earth. Each gold-toned dot you observe represents a separate galaxy that Kitt Peak National Observatory captured in visible light. The purple dots and mists in the image are gas clouds revealed by X-ray data from NASA Chandra Xray. Since X-rays are not part of the visible light spectrum, they have been colored to make them visible in this image.

The formation of massive galaxy clusters like Abell 2125 spans billions of years. Because of its remote location, this cluster offers important clues about the early evolution of galaxy clusters and their impact on the galaxies they contain. For example, data from Chandra, NASA Hubble and the Very Large Array reveal that some galaxies in Abell 2125 lost gas as they passed through hot, high-pressure gas clouds.

Image description:

This entire image is covered with purple and gold dots. Just above the center is the largest and brightest spot, a galaxy with four diffraction spikes. Throughout the image, but especially in the upper left and lower right, there are purple gas clouds through which you can see.

 

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optics: NSF/NOIRLab/KPNO/F. Owen; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major, K. Arcand