S. Bowyer and M. Lampton, Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Astrophysics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. R. Lieu, Department of Physics, University of Alabama, Huntsville, AL 35899, USA.
A surprising discovery in x-ray astronomy was that clusters of galaxies often contain vast quantities of hot (20 million kelvin) diffuse gas. Substantial diffuse extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) emission has recently been detected in the Virgo cluster of galaxies. Depending on the character of the interstellar medium in our galaxy, this emission could be either an aspect of the hot cluster gas or a previously undetected 500,000-kelvin component. Analysis of the observational data in combination with our current knowledge of the interstellar medium revealed that the EUV flux cannot be an effect of the interstellar medium. Hence, a warm cluster component appears likely.