Simulation of sloshing gas in the Perseus galaxy cluster

This image shows a simulation of the Perseus galaxy cluster – one of the most massive known objects in the Universe. A new study based on observations from ESA’s XMM-Newton has spotted the first signs of this gas splashing and sloshing around within Perseus – a behaviour that, while predicted, had never been seen before.

These three simulated frames show the surface brightness of the cluster gas in X-rays (left), the velocity of the gas (middle), and the temperature of the gas (right).

The brightest gas is seen in shades of orange-yellow and the dimmest in dark purple and black (left); the bluest gas is the fastest moving towards us, the reddest gas is the fastest moving away from us (centre); and the hottest gas is in shades of lime and yellow, and the coolest in dark blue (right).

Full story: First sighting of hot gas sloshing in galaxy cluster

Note: This caption was updated on 20 February 2020.