The Bullet Cluster in Carina: Webb & Chandra [Canceled] Space Telescopes

The Bullet Cluster in Carina: Webb & Chandra [Canceled] Space Telescopes

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is being canceled in NASA's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request, along with 18 other active science missions. NASA's science budget is being reduced by nearly 50%. NASA's total budget will become the lowest since 1961, after accounting for inflation.

Contact your representatives in the United States Congress, House and Senate, to express your concerns about severe budget cuts at NASA:

https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/

NASA's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request (PDF) Document Download: https://www.nasa.gov/fy-2026-budget-request/ (See Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request Summary)

This is the central region of the Bullet Cluster. It is made up of two massive galaxy clusters. The vast number of galaxies and foreground stars in the image were captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in near-infrared light. Glowing, hot X-rays captured by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory appear in pink. The blue represents the dark matter, precisely mapped by researchers with Webb’s detailed imaging. Normally, gas, dust, stars, and dark matter are combined into galaxies, even when they are gravitationally bound within larger groups known as galaxy clusters. The Bullet Cluster is unusual in that the intracluster gas and dark matter are separated, offering further evidence in support of dark matter.

These galaxy clusters act as gravitational lenses, magnifying the light of background galaxies. “Gravitational lensing allows us to infer the distribution of dark matter,” said James Jee, a co-author, professor at Yonsei University, and research associate at UC Davis in California.

The Bullet Cluster is found in the Carina constellation 3.8 billion light-years from Earth. It is huge in size, even in the vast expanse of space. 

Credits:
Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, CXC
Science: James Jee (Yonsei University, UC Davis), Sangjun Cha (Yonsei University), Kyle Finner (Caltech/IPAC)
Release Date: June 30, 2025

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