H2356-309, Sculptor Wall, Illustration

H2356-309, Sculptor Wall, Illustration

Illustration shows a close-up view of the Sculptor Wall, which is comprised of galaxies along with the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM). Scientists have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton to detect a vast reservoir of gas lying along a wall-shaped structure of galaxies about 400 million light years from Earth. This discovery is the strongest evidence yet that the "missing matter" in the nearby Universe is located in an enormous web of hot, diffuse gas. The X-ray emission from WHIM in this wall is too faint to be detected, so instead a search was made for absorption of light from a bright background source by the WHIM, using deep observations with Chandra and XMM. This background source is a rapidly growing supermassive black hole located far beyond the wall at a distance of about two billion light years. This is shown in the illustration as a star-like source, with light traveling through the Sculptor Wall towards the Earth. Release date May 11, 2010.

Album / NASA/CXC/M.Weiss / Science Source

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38.1 x 24.7 cm | 15.0 x 9.7 in (300 dpi)