Scientists have established the most distant galaxy cluster ever observed and say the discovery can provide clues to how the universe was formed.
The cluster, known as JKCS041 and it is about 10.2 billion light- years away and was observed as it was when the universe was a quarter of its current age, the National Aeronautics as well as Space Administration said in a statement yesterday.
“Finding such a huge structure at this very early epoch can reveal essential information about how the universe evolved at this critical stage,” NASA said.
Galaxy clusters are the biggest objects in the universe held together by gravity. The system is about a billion light years farther away than the preceding record holder, NASA added. It exists at the edge of time when scientists speculate galaxy clusters might have formed, so its properties can reveal how the universe took shape, according to the agency.
By examining the galaxy cluster, scientists would like to see how elements such as iron build up in a young system, moreover whether temperature and X-ray brightness relate to mass in the similar way as they do in closer galaxies.
Astronomers assume the universe formed between 12 billion and 14 billion years ago, according to NASA and our solar system is about 4.5 billion years old, the agency added.
The system was initially spotted by the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope in the year 2006, though scientists cannot confirm whether it was a completely formed cluster until NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory examined the galaxy in the year 2007, the space agency added.
A paper on the discovery will come into sight in the journal Astronomy and also in Astrophysics, NASA added.
The cluster, known as JKCS041 and it is about 10.2 billion light- years away and was observed as it was when the universe was a quarter of its current age, the National Aeronautics as well as Space Administration said in a statement yesterday.
“Finding such a huge structure at this very early epoch can reveal essential information about how the universe evolved at this critical stage,” NASA said.
Galaxy clusters are the biggest objects in the universe held together by gravity. The system is about a billion light years farther away than the preceding record holder, NASA added. It exists at the edge of time when scientists speculate galaxy clusters might have formed, so its properties can reveal how the universe took shape, according to the agency.
By examining the galaxy cluster, scientists would like to see how elements such as iron build up in a young system, moreover whether temperature and X-ray brightness relate to mass in the similar way as they do in closer galaxies.
Astronomers assume the universe formed between 12 billion and 14 billion years ago, according to NASA and our solar system is about 4.5 billion years old, the agency added.
The system was initially spotted by the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope in the year 2006, though scientists cannot confirm whether it was a completely formed cluster until NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory examined the galaxy in the year 2007, the space agency added.
A paper on the discovery will come into sight in the journal Astronomy and also in Astrophysics, NASA added.
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