This week in science, astrophysicists confirmed that ?a galaxy cluster 9.9 billion light years away.
The study began in 2006. They had had a hard time confirming how far away it is, however, and have only recently been able to do so, by using the Hubble Space telescope.
What Are Galaxies & Galaxy Clusters?
Galaxies are systems of stars, planets, millions and billions together, along with gases and dust. They are held together by gravitational forces. They are divided into three shapes:
- spirals (Our Milky Way Galaxy is a spiral)
- ellipiticals
- irregulars
Galaxy clusters are larger groups of galaxies found together. Galaxies can be found alone or in pairs or in clusters.
Where there are no galaxies, are voids.
There are hundreds of billions of galaxies in our Universe.
The Galaxy Called JKCS 041.
The Carnegie Institute has been spearheading this observation.
They have found that this cluster is perhaps one from the early beginnings of our universe and it is the best studied one due to their efforts using the Hubble Telescope.
The study began in 2006, but it has taken many years and many powerful telescopes to confirm the distance of the galaxy cluster from us.
The Largest & Oldest Galaxy Clusters.
The galaxy clusters, such as this one, are often the largest and oldest galaxy clusters that we know of.
They provide us with insight as to where our universe came from and how it was created.
JKCS 041 is the most distance known cluster of its size.
Interesting Info.
Sometimes, these large galaxies will enter into what is called the quiescent phase- basically, they become dormant. For whatever reason, they will stop forming new stars.
Many of the galaxies in JKCS 041 have reached this stage and they were only 1 billion years old when they did stop.
Even though galaxies enter into their quiescent phase, they still continue to expand which results in collisions with other galaxies, forming clusters.
Sometimes an evolution of galaxies will occur and an entirely new galaxy is formed from the two old ones.
Early clusters are suspected to be prime locations for these galaxies to collide, come together, and evolve.
A Final Thought.
There are billions of galaxies out into the world- some older than we can even possibly fathom.
As our technology advances and our understanding increases, we will continue to become more aware of the universe around us and not just the world.
That is all for this week in science.
