The galaxy cluster XLSSC 122 hints that the universe, at least the densest parts of it, could have formed stars, accreted into galaxies and finally aggregated them into galaxy clusters at a surprising speed
By John Willis, Associate Professor, Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, Canada
A galaxy cluster can be likened to a great city of galaxies, where each galaxy is a shimmering structure. Just as an archaeologist might search for evidence of the oldest cities on Earth, astronomers have long sought to discover the oldest galaxy clusters in the universe—each the cosmic equivalent of an ancient civilization like Jericho or Ur of the Chaldeans.
I was fortunate enough to lead a team of astronomers in discovering such an example of an ancient galaxy cluster. How old? It took light from the galaxy cluster named XLSSC 122 10.4 billion years to travel across the universe to us.
He will be in his youth
Astronomers now estimate that the universe itself is 13.7 billion years old, so a little math tells us that we are looking at XLSSC 122 when the universe was only 3.3 billion years old. We were surprised to find out that this is a mature and developed array similar to galaxy clusters in today's universe - a situation like looking at a picture from your youth in which you appear older than you were.
The XLSSC 122 galaxy cluster hints that the universe, at least the densest parts of it, could have formed stars, accreted into galaxies and finally aggregated them into galaxy clusters with surprising speed. Given that computer simulations of galaxy cluster assembly suggest more gradual growth, the discovery of XLSSC 122 suggests that our current ideas about how structure forms in the universe may be incomplete.
Discovers galaxy clusters
When I first viewed it, the galaxy cluster XLSSC 122 appeared as an unfathomable collection of photons on an X-ray image of the sky taken by the European Space Agency's space observatory. Although observed at great distances, we knew we were following a potentially hot halo of gas—at a temperature of 10 million degrees Kelvin—confined within the gravitational field of a massive galaxy cluster.
However, visible-light images taken by the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope did not reveal any galaxies associated with the X-ray source. This was an interesting hint that we may have discovered a distant galaxy cluster where the expansion of the universe has shifted the visible light emitted by the cluster's galaxies into the infrared spectrum.
From this understanding we continued to obtain an image of the cluster using the very large telescope of the European Observatory. This image, taken with an infrared camera, revealed the marked presence of faint red objects - distant galaxies; But exactly how far remains a mystery.
The Hubble Space Telescope brings absolute clarity
After discovering that XLSSC 122 is a distant galaxy cluster, perhaps the most distant, we were granted observation time with the Hubble Space Telescope. Considering that only one in 10 Hubble bids succeed, that's an achievement in itself.
Although the Hubble Space Telescope is nearly 30 years old, it remains a prominent astronomical facility. Our images of XLSSC 122 looked sharp and clear compared to the blurry images obtained from ground-based observatories. Although I have been a professional astronomer for 20 years, seeing the Hubble images of our cluster was an almost unique moment of discovery. It was immediately clear from the galaxy's colors and spectrum that XLSSC 122 was incredibly distant: it is at redshift 2, meaning that XLSSC 122's light took 10.4 billion years to reach Earth.
Visualization of galaxies
How does a cluster like XLSSC 122 fit into our larger picture of how the universe is built? Computer simulations allow astronomers to recreate the uneven distribution of matter in the early universe and then track gravity as it pulls the denser regions into massive clusters while less dense regions become increasingly sparse.
Clusters with properties similar to XLSSC 122 can be identified in the simulations. As the simulation resembles the real evolution of the universe, we can fast forward to the present. When we did this for XLSSC 122 we realized that it would become one of the most massive clusters in the universe – similar to the large Coma Cluster our nearest galaxy cluster. The same simulations suggest that XLSSC 122 could have existed only as a galaxy cluster for a billion years before the moment we observed.
Herein lies the mystery. Our study of the starlight from the galaxies that make up XLSSC 122 tells us that they are more than a billion years old, perhaps as much as three billion years old. Furthermore, they all seem to have started producing stars at almost the same time. But since all of this happened long before these galaxies ever coalesced to form XLSSC 122, the question remains, what caused them to start forming stars so synchronously in the early universe?
Fortunately, we have a pretty good idea where to look next. NASA plans to launch the James Webb Space Telescope in March 2021, and we're already planning to head toward XLSSC 122. The Webb Telescope will collect more than six times more light than the Hubble and analyze that light using several sensitive instruments. Our aim is to use high-resolution infrared spectroscopy to greatly improve our knowledge of the early times of the galaxies that make up XLSSC 122, and to discover the early life story of this remarkable galaxy cluster.
10 תגובות
Or Uri
And in the end some stupid virus will kill us all.
Your God didn't plan all the way…
Hanania
Besides showing that you are arrogant and uneducated - what were you trying to say?
And who created God?
.....
אוסטרליה
A note to Light Uri:
In your description, where is the place of the Lubavitcher Rebbe? It is clear that without the Rebbe your theory has no solid foundation.
For so long I look forward to James Webb's pictures and articles, descriptions of this telescope sound revolutionary to me
Almost like an iPhone lover waiting for the next generation 🙂
Creation is divine, our job is to understand it
Not a bang, not monkeys, and certainly not donkeys. The whole issue of the creation of the world is very, very far from the human mind because it is limited like all human senses. Scientists and all kinds of sages interpret as their brains understand, but there really is such a thing in the world that there is nothing that does not exist, like a carpenter, etc. The world is light and material, only the Holy One, blessed be He, is eternal, has done, does, and will do forever. We are just the smallest microcosms regarding creation, creation, and knowing the secrets of the universe. We have no ability and will never know a comma. It's all speculations of great sages. I have a question for all the scientists The greatest in the world, you think you have a mind. Yes. So show us your mind
The only thing that can produce stars in a galaxy in a synchronized manner is the planning and distribution of gas and gravity in advance to produce star clusters from the first generation at peak speed. This is the basis of the great plan to create life and the materials of life. This is how expansion and then cooling and the transformation of gas into matter and then generation A and then generation B of the galaxies followed by life and planets and between all this the combination of materials and the order and the distances and the creation of the right materials and the right order and the distance of gravity and turning light into antimatter and dark matter are all beyond your understanding for now but In the future, the demands of God's finger will be clearer to you, so the Creator sows universes and light in the great darkness. Creators are just like us, sowers of life. This is what we would have done.
Correct the order of the numbers in the first paragraph