A record-breaking galaxy cluster some 11.1 billion light-years away has been spotted by astronomers having the mother of all star burst parties.
Named CL J1001+0220, this cluster can be seen forming when the universe was less than three billion years old, becoming the oldest cluster of galaxies yet seen, beating the previous record holder by 700 million years.
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Galactic clusters are huge; among the biggest known structures in the cosmos. They are so big that astronomers thought CL J1001 wouldn't have had the time to accumulate so many galaxies. But there it is. And it's having one heck of a star party.
"This galaxy cluster isn't just remarkable for its distance, it's also going through an amazing growth spurt unlike any we've ever seen," said astronomer Tao Wang, of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA),
in a statement
.
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Deep inside that purple glow -- which is the X-ray glow of intragalactic gases observed by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and European XMM-Newton space telescope -- 11 elliptical galaxies can be seen and nine of them are hothouses of stellar birth. These galaxies are creating an equivalent of 3,000 sun-like stars per year, making this cluster one of a kind.
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"It appears that we have captured this galaxy cluster at a critical stage just as it has shifted from a loose collection of galaxies into a young, but fully formed galaxy cluster," said collaborator David Elbaz also from CEA.
By the researchers' reckoning, in a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal, elliptical galaxies only seem to experience this extreme starburst phase after they have accumulated gravitationally to form vast clusters like this. We are therefore having an extremely privileged view of a cluster when its inhabitants are undergoing a short yet extremely violent period of stellar activity.
The next step is to find more of these very distant and extremely active clusters in the hope of understanding more about the evolution of ancient galaxies.
Source:
NASA Chandra
GALLERY: Hubble's Sexiest Spiral Galaxies
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NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration
Using data from the Hubble Space Telescope's famous Ultra-Deep Field (UDF) observation,
astronomers have been able to deduce at what age spiral galaxies acquire their spiral structure
. Since its launch in 1990, the veteran observatory has studied countless galaxies, but some of the most striking images are that of the majestic spirals that pervade the entire observable universe. In this celebration of spiral galaxies and Hubble's prowess at imaging them, we've collected some of our favorite galactic views from the space telescope's archives.
NGC 284.
In this majestic image, phenomenal detail in galaxy's spiraling dust lanes have been captured.
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NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Spiral galaxy
NGC 5866
as seen nearly edge-on from Hubble's perspective. The dark galactic dust silhouettes the bright galactic core.
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NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
An
unnamed spiral galaxy
located deep within the Coma Cluster of galaxies, around 320 million light-years away in the northern constellation Coma Berenices, shows off some intricate detail in its arms.
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NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
The famous
Sombrero galaxy
(Messier 104) is an edge-on spiral galaxy -- the "rim" of the sombrero is thick lanes of dust obscuring the galaxy's starlight.
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NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
M81
is another spiral galaxy not too dissimilar to our Milky Way. Young, bluish stars track along the galaxy's majestic arms, while older, redder stars cluster in its bright core.
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NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), and R. Gendler (for the Hubble Heritage Team)
This unique view of
M106
is a combination of Hubble data and photographs taken by astrophotographer Robert Gendler.
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NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
The 'classic' spiral
Whirlpool Galaxy
gravitationally interacts with a neighboring galaxy, refining its very clear spiral arms.
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NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
To celebrate Hubble's 21st year in space, astronomers released this striking image of a pair of interacting galaxies called
Arp 273
. (Image rotated)
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NASA, ESA, M. Livio and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
The 3 galaxies of
Arp 274
appear to be very close to one another, but astronomers believe that they are far apart and only overlapping from our perspective.
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NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA
Galaxy
UGC 10214
is undergoing some violent gravitational disturbances after a suspected galactic collision. The creation of the stream of stars post-collision appear as a tail, giving the galaxy "The Tadpole" moniker.
To see full-resolution images and more detail on the galaxies showcased here, browse the mindblowing online Hubble album.