Tag Archive for 'Galaxy cluster'

An artist’s impression of plasma jets coming from a supermassive black hole in the central galaxy of the Phoenix cluster. Image credit: NAOJ.

Astronomers Detect Black-Hole Jets in Central Galaxy of Phoenix Cluster

Sep 1, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) have detected plasma jets coming from a supermassive black hole in the central galaxy of...

This image from the eROSITA X-ray telescope shows the energetic Universe. As eROSITA scans the sky, the energy of the collected photons is measured with an accuracy ranging from 2% - 6%. To generate this image, in which the whole sky is projected onto an ellipse (so-called Aitoff projection) with the center of the Milky Way in the middle and the body of our Galaxy running horizontally, photons have been color-coded according to their energy (red for energies 0.3-0.6 keV, green for 0.6-1 keV, blue for 1-2.3 keV). The red diffuse glow away from the galactic plane is the emission of the hot gas in the vicinity of the Solar System (the Local Bubble). Along the plane itself, dust and gas absorb the lowest energy X-ray photons, so that only high-energy emitting sources can be seen, and their color appears blue in the image. The hotter gas close to the Galactic center, shown in green and yellow, carries imprinted the history of the most energetic processes in the life of the Milky Way, such as supernova explosions, driving fountains of gas out of the plane, and, possibly, past outburst from the now dormant supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way. Piercing through this turbulent, hot diffuse medium, are hundreds of thousands of X-ray sources, which appear mostly white in the image, and uniformly distributed over the sky. Among them, distant active galactic nuclei are visible as point sources, while clusters of galaxies reveal themselves as extended X-ray nebulosities. In total, about one million X-ray sources have been detected in this image. Image credit: Jeremy Sanders, Hermann Brunner & the eSASS team / Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics / Eugene Churazov & Marat Gilfanov, IKI.

eROSITA X-Ray Telescope Captures Hot, Energetic Universe

Jun 19, 2020 by News Staff

A new all-sky image from the eROSITA X-ray telescope onboard the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) space observatory contains over one million objects, about...

This Hubble image shows a massive galaxy cluster (center); along its borders reddish dots are visible; these are copies of the same galaxy called PLCK G045.1+61.1, which is 12 billion light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / B. Frye.

Hubble Uses Gravitational Lens to Capture Extremely Distant Starburst Galaxy

Jun 15, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Thanks to the presence of a cosmic lens, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope got a close-up look at PLCK G045.1+61.1, a starburst galaxy located approximately...

An artist’s impression of the early Universe. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Kornmesser.

Astronomers Find No Evidence of Elusive First-Generation Stars in Early Universe

Jun 4, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have found no evidence of hypothetical first-generation stars — called Population III stars...

Abell 2384 contains the giant structures that can result when two galaxy clusters collide. A superheated gas bridge is seen in this composite image with X-rays from Chandra and XMM-Newton (blue), radio emission from the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (red) and optical data from the Digitized Sky Survey (yellow). This multi-wavelength view reveals the effects of a jet shooting away from a supermassive black hole in the center of a galaxy in one of the clusters. The jet is so powerful that it is bending the shape of the gas bridge, which extends for over 3 million light-years and has the mass of about 6 trillion solar masses. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / V. Parekh et al / ESA / XMM-Newton / NCRA / GMRT.

Astronomers Spot Enormous Bridge of Hot Gas between Two Galaxy Clusters

May 11, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESA’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatories have observed a 3-million-light-year-long bridge of hot gas linking two unequal...

This artist’s impression shows the evolution of the Universe beginning with the Big Bang on the left followed by the appearance of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the cosmic dark ages, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Universe is Anisotropic on Large Scales, New Study Suggests

Apr 9, 2020 by News Staff

Space-based X-ray observations of hundreds of galaxy clusters suggest that the Universe may be different depending on which way astronomers look. The study...

Evidence for the biggest black hole eruption seen in the Universe comes from a combination of X-ray data from Chandra and XMM-Newton, and the Murchison Widefield Array and Giant Metrewave Telescope, as shown here. The eruption is generated by a black hole located in the central galaxy of the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster, which has blasted out jets and carved a large cavity in the surrounding hot gas. Image credit: NASA / CXC / NRL / S. Giacintucci et al / ESA / XMM-Newton / NCRA / TIFR / GMRT / 2MASS / UMass / IPAC-Caltech / NSF.

Universe’s Most Powerful Black Hole Eruption Spotted

Feb 28, 2020 by News Staff

Using data from ESA’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s Chandra X-ray space observatories, along with two ground-based radio telescopes in Australia and India,...

Giant cavities in the X-ray emitting intracluster medium (shown in blue, as observed by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory) have been carved out by a black hole outburst. X-ray data are overlaid on top of optical data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (in red/orange), where the central galaxy that is likely hosting the culprit supermassive black hole is also visible. Image credit: Calzadilla et al.

Astronomers Witness Extremely Powerful Black Hole Outburst in Distant Galaxy Cluster

Dec 25, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have spotted an unusual outburst activity in the center of SPT-CLJ0528-5300 (SPT-0528 for short),...

This composite image of the galaxy group-galaxy group merger NGC 6338 contains X-ray data from Chandra (displayed in red) that shows hot gas with temperatures upward of about 20 million degrees Celsius, as well as cooler gas detected with Chandra and XMM (shown in blue) that also emits X-rays. The image contains optical data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Image credit: Chandra / NASA / CXC / SAO / E. O’Sullivan / ESA / XMM / SDSS.

NGC 6338: Two Galaxy Groups are Colliding at Incredible Speed

Dec 19, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, ESA’s XMM-Newton, the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, and the Apache Point Observatory, astronomers...

X-ray image of the gravitational lens system SDSS J1004+4112 taken by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory; the central red extended emission is from the hot gas in the foreground lens galaxy cluster and the four blue point sources are the lensed images of the background quasar. Image credit: University of Oklahoma.

Free-Floating Planet-Mass Objects are Common in Galaxies

Dec 13, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using a technique called quasar microlensing, a team of astronomers at the University of Oklahoma has detected populations of free-floating planet-mass...

This composite image shows the surroundings of a supermassive black hole that is triggering star formation across the longest distance ever seen; as hot gas swirls around the black hole, it emits large amounts of X-rays that Chandra detects; the black hole is also the source of radio-wave emission from a jet of high-energy particles -- previously detected by scientists with the VLA -- that stretches about a million light-years. Image credit: NASA / CXC / INAF / R. Gilli et al / NRAO / VLA / STScI.

Supermassive Black Hole Triggers Star Formation in Multiple Galaxies

Dec 5, 2019 by News Staff

Enormous black holes usually affect their surroundings through the so-called ‘negative feedback’ — in other words, suppressing the formation...

This image of the Phoenix Cluster combines X-ray, radio and optical data; side panels show the individual images making up the composite. Image credit: NASA / CXC / MIT / M. McDonald et al / NRAO / AUI / NSF / STScI.

Enormous Black Hole Boosts Star Formation in Phoenix Galaxy Cluster

Nov 22, 2019 by News Staff

Supermassive black holes in the center of galaxy clusters usually suppress star formation, but the one in the Phoenix Cluster, a group of about 1,000 galaxies...

This Hubble image shows a massive galaxy cluster, about 4.6 billion light years away. Along its borders 12 images within the four arcs are visible; these are copies of the same galaxy called PSZ1 G311.65-18.48, which is almost 11 billion light-years away. Three of these arcs are visible in the top right of the image, while one counterarc is visible in the lower left -- partially obscured by a bright foreground star within our Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Rivera-Thorsen et al.

Hubble Sees Twelve Images of Same Galaxy Split by Gravitational Lens

Nov 8, 2019 by News Staff

An effect called strong gravitational lensing has allowed the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to see the same remote galaxy twelve times. Called PSZ1 G311.65-18.48,...

ESO’s Very Large Telescope captured this image of NGC 1404 with its FORS (FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph) instrument; the bright foreground star to the lower left of the frame is named HD 22862. Image credit: ESO.

ESO Releases Stunning Image of Elliptical Galaxy NGC 1404

Oct 30, 2019 by News Staff

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released a gorgeous new image taken by ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) of a giant elliptical galaxy called...

This composite image shows Abell 1758, a quadruple galaxy cluster system about 3 billion light-years away from Earth. In the northern (top) pair seen in the image, the centers of each cluster have already passed by each other once, about 300 to 400 million years ago, and will eventually swing back around. The southern pair at the bottom of the image has two clusters that are close to approaching each other for the first time. X-rays from Chandra are shown as blue and white, depicting fainter and brighter diffuse emission, respectively. This image also includes an optical image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / G. Schellenberger et al / SDSS.

Chandra Observes Mega-Merger of Galaxy Clusters: Abell 1758

Oct 28, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have created detailed maps of Abell 1758, a collision between two pairs of galaxy clusters,...

Supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies blast radiation and ultra-fast winds outward, as illustrated in this artist’s conception. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Ultramassive Black Hole Found in Elliptical Galaxy Holmberg 15A

Aug 5, 2019 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have discovered an enormous black hole at the center of Holmberg 15A, a supergiant elliptical galaxy...

LOFAR image centered on the Abell 0399-Abell 0401 system; color and contours show the radio emission at 140 MHz; the faceting of the field is shown with red lines. Image credit: Govoni et al, doi: 10.1126/science.aat7500.

LOFAR Telescope Sees Ridge of Radio-Emitting Plasma between Two Merging Galaxy Clusters

Jun 10, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope network have detected a vast ridge of radio emission connecting the merging galaxy clusters...

This Hubble image shows the massive galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0615-5746. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Karachentsev et al / High et al.

Hubble Sees Extremely Distant Lensing Galaxy Cluster

May 6, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

A spectacular new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows SPT-CL J0615-5746, a very massive group of galaxies located approximately 7.7 billion...

This striking image combines data gathered with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and data from the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. It shows just a part of the spectacular tail emerging from the spiral galaxy D100. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Cramer et al.

Hubble Finds Spiral Galaxy with Ram Pressure-Stripped Tail in Coma Cluster

Jan 28, 2019 by News Staff

A long streamer of hydrogen gas is being stripped from a spiral galaxy called D100 as it plunges toward the center of the Coma cluster (also known as Abell...

A 30,000 light-year region from the Renaissance Simulation centered on a cluster of young galaxies that generate radiation (white) and metals (green) while heating the surrounding gas. A dark matter halo just outside this heated region forms three supermassive stars (inset) each over 1,000 times the mass of our Sun that will quickly collapse into massive black holes and eventually supermassive black holes over billions of years. Image credit: Advanced Visualization Lab, National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

Early Universe’s Massive Black Holes Born in Rapidly-Growing Dark Matter Halos: Study

Jan 28, 2019 by News Staff

When the Universe was less than 1 billion years old, some of its stars turned into supermassive black holes. A key mystery in astronomy has been: why are...

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