October 19, 2005
3C295 (Cl 1409+524) is one of the most distant galaxy clusters observed by X-ray telescopes. The cluster is filled with a vast cloud of fifty million degree gas that radiates strongly in X rays. It has a redshift of 0.461, which means that we see the galaxy cluster as it was 5 billion years ago. 3C295 was first discovered as a bright source of radio waves. The source of the radio emission was found to be a giant elliptical galaxy located in the center of the cluster of galaxies. Chandra discovered that this central galaxy is a strong, complex source of X rays.
Topics: Environment, 3C 295, Radio galaxies, Large-scale structure of the cosmos, Galaxy groups and clusters, Redshift, Galaxy, X-ray astronomy