Chandra Image of NGC 720
Chandra's image reveals a galaxy enveloped in a slightly flattened or ellipsoidal cloud of 7 million-degree Celsius gas. The shape and orientation of the hot cloud are different from that of the optical image of the galaxy. This means that a massive halo of dark matter is needed to keep the hot gas from expanding away.
Observation Date: October 12, 2000
Observation Time: 9.6 hours
(Credit: NASA/CXC/UCI/D.Buote et al.)

DSS Optical Image of NGC 720
Observation Date: August 08, 1982
Observation Time: 1 hour
(Credit: Digitized Sky Survey U.K.Schmidt Image/STScI)

Near Infrafed 2MASS Image of NGC 720
Observation Date: August 20, 1998
Bandwidth: J band (1.11 - 1.36 micrometers)
(Credit: 2MASS/UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF)

X-ray ROSAT PSPC Image
Source: 1994 vol. p. CORCORAN, ET AL. ROSAT X-RAY IMAGES CD VOLUME 2
Observation Date: January 15, 1992
Observation Time: 6.4 hours
Bandwidth: 0.1-2.4keV
(Credit: NASA/MPE/CfA)

Chandra X-ray/Optical Image with Scale Bar
Scale bar = 1 arcmin
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UCI/D.Buote et al., Optical: DSS U.K.Schmidt Image/STScI)