Many galaxies in the universe are found in large group known as clusters . Just as galaxy can collide with each other , clusters also end up commingle . These uniting help test out cosmogenic models and now , for the first sentence , investigator have spotted two clusters that are just about to meld .
As reported inNature Astronomy , cluster 1E 2216.0 - 0401 and 1E 2215.7 - 0404 are on the leaflet of a collision . Using a mix of X - ray telescope and radio observatories , the team witnessed merger shocks between two clusters . Clusters are rich in intergalactic gas , which is spread out over millions of light - years and is often very hot .
As bunch crash into each other , the gas from each cluster is squeeze and heated to unbelievable temperatures . Merger shocks have been see before but never like this . These cushion travel perpendicular to the merger axis vertebra , outwards along the equatorial plane of the merger .
" These cluster show the first clear evidence for this type of merger shock , " lead author Liyi Gu , from the RIKEN National Science Institute in Japan and the SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research , said in astatement . " The shock absorber created a red-hot belt region of 100 - million - academic degree accelerator pedal between the clusters , which is expected to stretch out up to , or even go beyond the bound of the giant cluster . Therefore , the observed shock has a huge shock on the evolution of wandflower clusters and heavy - plate structures . "
Cluster collisions can take many billion of years to complete , so the photo of how these events unfold was craft by see at “ snapshots ” of many different conflux bunch . And that ’s also why recover the beginning of a uniting has been so hard . It ’s been a acerate leaf in a haystack situation . But the future tense is see brighter .
" More merger bunch like this one will be found by eROSITA , an Adam - ray all - sky resume mission that will be launched this year . Two other upcoming cristal - beam missions , XRISM and Athena , will help us empathize the role of these prodigious merger shocks in the social system geological formation history , " Centennial State - writer and SRON researcher Hiroki Akamatsu added .
cluster of galaxy are the large gravitationally bound objects in the universe . They ’re important in footing of how wandflower interchange and evolve , and how subject is hand out within the universe . These watching furnish another missing spell of the puzzle that is our knowledge of the cosmos .
