X-rays

SSpace

$The Champagne Cluster appears here as a large collection of brilliant white lights, each a distinct galaxy. A neon purple cloud stretches across the cluster’s crowded core. Many of the hundred-plus galaxies in the cluster are in two clumps of galaxies towards the top and bottom of center. Some are encircled by a faint glowing haze, while a few foreground stars gleam with diffraction spikes. Some of the smaller galaxies are tinted blue, orange, or red, and some appear more oblong than round, suggesting spiral shapes viewed edge-on. The neon purple cloud sits at the heart of the image, surrounding the most densely-packed part of the cluster. This cloud, which spreads vertically across the cluster, is multimillion-degree gas observed by Chandra. The two clumps of observable galaxies, and the spread of superheated gas, reveal that the Champagne Cluster is in fact two clusters in the process of colliding. Image credit: NASA / CXC / UCDavis / Bouhrik et al. / Legacy Survey / DECaLS / BASS / MzLS / SAO / P. Edmonds / L. Frattare.$

January 3, 2026

Astronomers discovered an enormous galaxy cluster called RM J130558.9+263048.4 on December 31, 2020; the date, combined with the…

HHealthcare

Explainer | X-rays free, A&E to cost more: the Post breaks down Hong Kong’s new hospital fees

January 1, 2026

Hong Kong will overhaul public hospital fees from January 1 to ensure the sustainable development of its healthcare…

SScience

This XMM-Newton image shows an X-ray view of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. At the center of the image, a bright red spot stands out against a dark background, like a fiery beacon. Starting from this core, faint gradients of purple and blue spread outward, creating a slightly rotated rectangular frame, divided by a thin horizontal line, the detector gap. The red color shows low-energy X-rays, blue marks empty space with very few X-rays. Image credit: ESA / XMM-Newton / C. Lisse / S. Cabot / XMM ISO Team.

December 12, 2025

Astronomers using ESA’s XMM-Newton observatory have captured an X-ray image of 3I/ATLAS, the third confirmed interstellar object to…

SScience

An artist’s impression of the flaring, windy supermassive black hole in NGC 3783. Image credit: ESA / ATG Europe.

December 9, 2025

Using ESA’s XMM-Newton and the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), a JAXA-led mission with ESA and NASA…

PPhysics

Self-compressed waveform-stable light transients enabling water-window attosecond spectroscopy

November 14, 2025

We first demonstrate the creation and field-resolved characterization of light transients, focusing on generating sub-cycle pulses. For this…

Champagne Cluster is Actually Two Galaxy Clusters in Process of Merging, Astronomers Find

XMM-Newton Offers Incredible X-ray View of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Astronomers Spot Extraordinary Blast from Supermassive Black Hole in NGC 3783

Self-compressed waveform-stable light transients enabling water-window attosecond spectroscopy