Far-Away Nebulae (IMAGE)
Caption
These two eROSITA images show the two interacting galaxy clusters A3391 and A3395, highlighting eROSITAs superb view of the distant Universe. They were observed in series of exposures with all seven eROSITA telescope modules on October 17 and 18, 2019. The individual images were subjected to different analysis techniques, and then coloured in different schemes to highlight the different structures. In the left-hand image, the red, green and blue colours refer to the three different energy bands of eROSITA. One clearly sees the two clusters as nebulous structures, which shine brightly in X-rays due to the presence of extremely hot gas (millions of degrees) in the space between galaxies. The image on the right highlights the 'bridge' between the two clusters, confirming the suspicion that these two huge structures actually interact dynamically. The eROSITA observations also show hundreds of point-like sources, signposting either distant supermassive black holes or hot stars in the Milky Way.
Credit
T. Reiprich (Univ. Bonn), M. Ramos-Ceja (MPE), F. Pacaud (Univ. Bonn), D. Eckert (Univ. Geneva), J. Sanders (MPE), N. Ota (Univ. Bonn), E. Bulbul (MPE), V. Ghirardini (MPE), MPE/IKI
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