X-ray & Optical Images of NGC 6240
Scientists have used Chandra to make a detailed study of an enormous cloud of hot gas enveloping two large, colliding galaxies in the system known as NGC 6240. This unusually large reservoir of gas contains as much mass as 10 billion Suns, spans about 300,000 light years, radiates at a temperature of more than 7 million degrees, and glows in X-rays. The Chandra data have been combined with optical data from the Hubble, which show long tidal tails from the merging galaxies, extending to the right and bottom of the image.
(Credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/SAO/E.Nardini et al); Optical (NASA/STScI))