Massive galaxy cluster weighs as much as 800 trillion Suns
October 14th, 2010 - 4:16 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Oct 14 (ANI): Using the South Pole Telescope, astronomers have discovered the most massive galaxy cluster yet seen at a distance of 7 billion light-years.
The cluster (designated SPT-CL J0546-5345) weighs in at around 800 trillion Suns, and holds hundreds of galaxies.
“This galaxy cluster wins the heavyweight title. It’s among the most massive clusters ever found at this distance,” said Mark Brodwin, a Smithsonian astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Brodwin is first author on the paper announcing the discovery.
Galaxy clusters like this can be used to study how dark matter and dark energy influenced the growth of cosmic structures.
Long ago, the universe was smaller and more compact, so gravity had a greater influence. It was easier for galaxy clusters to grow, especially in areas that already were denser than their surroundings.
“You could say that the rich get richer, and the dense get denser,” quipped Harvard astronomer Robert Kirshner, commenting on the study.
As the universe expanded at an accelerating rate due to dark energy, it grew more diffuse. Dark energy now dominates over the pull of gravity and chokes off the formation of new galaxy clusters.
The study appears in the Astrophysical Journal. (ANI)
- Detailed maps of dark matter offer clues to galaxy cluster growth - Nov 12, 2010
- NASA telescope discovers giant bubbles in Milky Way - Nov 10, 2010
- A better way to accurately measure dark energy identified - Jan 14, 2011
- Does galaxy hold thousands of ticking 'time bombs'? - Sep 07, 2011
- Could city lights help locate alien civilisations? - Nov 04, 2011
- Hubble discovers new, all-water planet - Feb 22, 2012
- Runaway planets are universe's fastest objects - Mar 23, 2012
- How merging black holes go on a rampage of star-eating - Apr 11, 2011
- Black holes gobble up stars to grow bigger - Apr 03, 2012
- NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory finds youngest nearby black hole - Nov 16, 2010
- Astronomers find evidence of merging galaxies creating binary quasar - Feb 04, 2010
- Astronomers witness birth of a star - Jun 18, 2010
- NASA Finds 2 New Planets In Milky Way - Aug 27, 2010
- NASA telescopes discover most distant galaxy cluster - Jan 13, 2011
- Astronomers discover darkest known planet - Aug 13, 2011
Tags: astronomers, astrophysical journal, cosmic structures, dark matter and dark energy, discovery, galaxies, galaxy cluster, galaxy clusters, gravity, harvard astronomer, harvard smithsonian center, harvard smithsonian center for astrophysics, heavyweight title, light years, massive clusters, massive galaxy, south pole telescope, suns, surroundings, trillion