Astronomers using a large group of space and ground observatories have discovered the most distant galaxy cluster yet.
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In an interview for the NASA website, lead researcher Tao Wang of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission-or, the CEA-said that the galaxy cluster isn’t just remarkable for its distance, it is also going through a unique “growth spurt”. The rate at which the stars form at its core is comparable to the formation of more than 3,000 suns each year, a rate remarkably high for a galaxy cluster and especially for a young galaxy cluster located at a great distance.
“Clusters are groups of galaxies that are clumped together like a giant neighborhood and are held together by gravity”, according to Megan Watzke, spokeswoman for the Chandra X-ray Center, which operates the telescope.
Earlier, just some loose collections called protoclusters were seen at further distances.
Galaxy Cluster CL J1001 is the most distant of its kind ever recorded. Those within CL J1001, therefore, are today’s celebrities. This may indicate that the formation of stars takes place more rapidly than models have indicated, or that CL J1001 is a rare type of cluster that is not covered by current leading cosmological simulations.
Additionally, the galaxies should be closely packed together to become a galaxy cluster and this is one of the best examples of how galaxies are bound together by the gravitational forces in its early stages of evolution.
A comparison of CL J1001’s structure and composition revealed that the cluster contains a high amount of stellar mass in relation to its overall mass, the researchers reported. Of these, nine are giving birth to new stars at an impressive rate. Since the galaxy is located 11.1 billion light years away from Earth, it will help researchers in developing a better understanding of how galaxies evolved in the past. It can give insights into the early stages of a galaxy’s evolution.
Using five space- and four ground-based telescopes, an global team of astronomers has found the most distant galaxy cluster to date.
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Co-author Alexis Finoguenov of Finland’s University of Helsinki says they could learn a lot about the formation of galaxy clusters by studying the region and promises that they will be searching hard for other examples.
