Galaxy clusters are massive collections containing tens or even thousands of galaxies gravitationally bound together. They contain large amounts of dark matter — a strange form of matter that interacts through gravity but gives off no light — which is thought to provide an anchor attracting visible matter to a specific spot.
The clump of mysterous dark matter is located in the Abell 520 cluster, a diffuse collection of galaxies located 2.4 billion light-years away in the constellation Orion. The celestial object, sometimes called the Train Wreck cluster, is thought to be the remnant of a chaotic crash between several galaxy clusters.
Though dark matter is invisible, the new study used a technique called gravitational lensing to show its presence. Massive objects distort light coming from behind them. By looking for light from a distant object and observing the amount to which it is bent, astronomers can infer the amount of mass in a particular location.
An analysis with the Hubble space telescope confirms the odd dark core exists, throwing researchers for a loop. The findings appear in The Astrophysical Journal.
click picture for complete story
example of galaxy cluster
The clump of mysterous dark matter is located in the Abell 520 cluster, a diffuse collection of galaxies located 2.4 billion light-years away in the constellation Orion. The celestial object, sometimes called the Train Wreck cluster, is thought to be the remnant of a chaotic crash between several galaxy clusters.
Though dark matter is invisible, the new study used a technique called gravitational lensing to show its presence. Massive objects distort light coming from behind them. By looking for light from a distant object and observing the amount to which it is bent, astronomers can infer the amount of mass in a particular location.
An analysis with the Hubble space telescope confirms the odd dark core exists, throwing researchers for a loop. The findings appear in The Astrophysical Journal.
click picture for complete story
No comments:
Post a Comment