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NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory Reveals Never-Seen-Before Image of Peacock’s Galaxy

By  //  July 24, 2024

galaxy known as NGC 6872 is 522,000 light-years across

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory launch, the Chandra team released this never-seen-before image of NGC 6872, a spiral galaxy in the Pavo constellation, on July 22, 2024. (NASA image)

(NASA) – To commemorate the 25th anniversary of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory launch, the Chandra team released a never-seen-before image of NGC 6872, a spiral galaxy in the Pavo constellation, on July 22, 2024.

This image and 24 others, which all include data from Chandra, demonstrate how X-ray astronomy explores all corners of the universe.

NGC 6872 is 522,000 light-years across, making it more than five times the size of the Milky Way galaxy; in 2013, astronomers from the United States, Chile, and Brazil found it to be the largest-known spiral galaxy, based on archival data from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer.

This record was surpassed by NGC 262, a galaxy that measures 1.3 million light-years in diameter.

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