Astronomers have discovered the most distant galaxy cluster ever observed, glimpsing a stage of evolution that’s never been seen before.
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Tao Wang of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, who led the research, said: “This galaxy cluster isn’t just remarkable for its distance, it’s also going through an incredible growth spurt unlike any we’ve ever seen”. In this region, it is estimated that the rate is equivalent to 3,000 suns forming every year, a remarkably high value for a galaxy cluster as distant as CL J1001. For scientists, it is a remarkable site as not only the galaxy cluster is farthest ever observed but it is giving birth to stars at an unprecedented rate. The discovery also pushes back the formation time of galaxy clusters by about 700 million years.
Researchers discovered the cluster using Nasa’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, along with other telescopes, which detected diffuse X-ray emissions from massive amounts of hot gas.
Experts agree that the discovery of the galaxy cluster is not only significant to the understanding of the universe, but it also happened at the right time. What’s striking is that the newly found galaxy is the most distant galaxy ever seen.
The team behind the discovery believe that the light from CL J1001 left its source soon after it made the transition from a loose gathering of galaxies to a fully formed cluster, with a core consisting of 11 massive elliptical galaxies.
The results suggest that elliptical galaxies – galaxies that appear elliptical in shape – in galaxy clusters such as CL J1001 may form their stars during shorter and more violent outbursts than elliptical galaxies that are outside clusters.
CL J1001 appears to be a newborn galaxy cluster in its earliest stage of evolution, something astronomers have not witnessed before, NASA officials said in a statement. To qualify as a cluster, the galaxies must be bound together by gravity.
According to the authors, CL 1001 may be undergoing a transformation from a galaxy cluster that is still forming, known as a ‘protocluster, ‘ to a mature one.
The researchers also used data from the Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, the ESA’s Hershcel Space Observatory, the NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimetrique Northern Extended Millimeter Array (IRAM NOEMA), and ESO’s Very Large Telescope.
Wang and colleagues published the results online today (Aug. 30) in The Astrophysical Journal.
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Moreover, Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO) is a space observatory launched by NASA on July 23, 1999.
