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ESA’s XMM-Newton gains deep insights into the distant Universe

14 July 2003

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The first image from the XMM-LSS survey is actually a combination of fourteen separate 'pointings' of the space observatory. It represents a region of the sky eight times larger than the full Moon and contains around 25 clusters. The circles represent the sources previously known from the 1991 ROSAT All-Sky Survey.

Credits: ESA

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A computer programme zooms in on an interesting region

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A computer programme zooms in on an interesting region of the image and identifies the possible cluster. Each point on this graph represents a single X-ray photons detected by XMM-Newton. Most come from distant actie galaxies and the computer must perform a sophisticated, statistical computation to determine which X-ray come from clusters.

Credits: ESA

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The computer programme transforms the XMM-Newton data into a contour map of the cluster's probable extent and superimposes it over the CFHT snapshot, allowing the individual galaxies in the cluster to be targeted for further observations with ESO's VLT, to measure its distance and locate the cluster in the universe.

Credits: ESA

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