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Record-breaking cosmic structure discovered in colossal galaxy cluster
- Researchers have identified an enormous cloud of high-energy particles enveloping the galaxy cluster PLCK G287.0+32.9, which lies approximately 5 billion light-years from Earth.
- The cluster was first detected in 2011, and the new radio images revealed a faint glow covering nearly 20 million light-years, challenging prior expectations.
- The radio halo fills the entire cluster and extends between giant shocks, indicating active acceleration of electrons despite their old age and cooled state.
- Dr. Kamlesh Rajpurohit explained that rather than observing the anticipated two bright relics at the outskirts of the cluster, their observations revealed the entire cluster emitting radio waves.
- This discovery enhances our understanding of how magnetic fields in space influence the formation of vast cosmic structures, indicating that existing models of particle acceleration require updates.
12 Articles
12 Articles
The discovery by a team of researchers at the University of Hawaii offers new possibilities for studying the universe.
Astronomers find record-breaking cloud of energetic cosmic particles engulfs colossal galaxy cluster
Astronomers have found a gigantic cosmic structure which defies understanding. The object is a cloud of energetic particles – the largest ever found. The cloud is so large that it surrounds a massive galaxy cluster, spanning 20 million light-years. For comparison, our home Milky Way galaxy has a diameter about 200 times smaller at roughly 100,000 light-years. Long standing theories about how particles stay energised have been challenged by the n…
Record-breaking cosmic structure discovered in colossal galaxy cluster
Astronomers have discovered the largest known cloud of energetic particles surrounding a galaxy cluster—spanning nearly 20 million light-years. The finding challenges long-standing theories about how particles stay energized over time. Instead of being powered by nearby galaxies, this vast region seems to be energized by giant shockwaves and turbulence moving through the hot gas between galaxies.
It is some 5 billion light-years away from Earth that astronomers have just uncovered the largest cloud of energy particles ever observed around a cluster of galaxies. And its size challenges some established theories.
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