Nearby star cluster hosts unusually large black hole

Enlarge / From left to right, zooming in from the globular cluster to the location of the black hole. ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Häberle Supermassive black holes appear to reside at the center of every galaxy, and have done so since galaxies formed early in the history of the universe. However, we currently cannot fully … Read more

Astronomers discover mysterious black hole in star cluster

The Omega Centauri star cluster contains millions of stars. The motion of some of the stars suggests that there is a medium-sized black hole at its center. NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA hide caption switch caption NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have found evidence for the existence of an elusive type of black hole, about 8,000 times … Read more

Astronomers detect strong shock front in galaxy cluster SPT-CLJ 2031-4037

The exposure-corrected image of SPT J2031. Credit: Diwanji et al., 2024. Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray spacecraft, astronomers from the University of Alabama in Huntsville have observed a merging cluster of galaxies known as SPT-CLJ 2031-4037. They discovered a rarely seen strong shock front in this cluster of galaxies. The finding was reported in a research … Read more

NASA’s Chandra X-ray telescope captures the nearest superstar cluster (image)

It’s a bird… it’s a plane… it’s a super star cluster! NASA’s Chandra X-ray telescope has imaged a star cluster that is “super” in every way. Westerlund 1 is super big, super massive, super young, super close – and it’s creating stars at a super fast pace. Westerlund 1 is about 13,000 light-years away from … Read more

Chinese astronomers discover a high-velocity star ejected from the globular star cluster Messier 15

This article was reviewed according to Science fact checked preprint trusted source proofread OK! by Tomasz Nowakowski, Phys.org 3D view of the retrograde orbits of J0731+3717 and the globular cluster Messier 15. Credit: Huang et al., 2024. × close to 3D view of the retrograde orbits of J0731+3717 and the globular cluster Messier 15. Credit: … Read more

‘Super’ star cluster shines in new look of NASA’s Chandra – NASA

Star Cluster Westerlund 1.

Westerlund 1 is the largest and closest ‘super’ star cluster to Earth. New data from NASA’s Chandra These are the first data released publicly from a project called the Extended Westerlund 1 and 2 Open Clusters Survey, or EWOCS, led by astronomers at Italy’s National Institute of Astrophysics in Palermo. As part of EWOCS, Chandra … Read more

The enormous ‘El Gordo’ cluster of galaxies suggests that dark matter is colliding with itself

A view of space with blue and pink hazes overlaying lots of stars and galaxies.

Strange behavior in a huge cluster of merging galaxies could be explained if dark matter, the universe’s most mysterious stuff, can collide with itself. However, the most favored model of cosmology at the moment is the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) model – and it suggests that dark matter, which is effectively invisible because it does … Read more

Euclid Space Telescope finds 1.5 trillion orphan stars roaming the Perseus cluster (images)

A Euclid image of the Perseus cluster of galaxies bathed in a gentle, soft blue light emanating from orphan stars. These orphan stars are dispersed throughout the cluster, extending up to 2 million light-years from its centre.

Using the Euclid Space Telescope, scientists have discovered a whopping 1.5 trillion orphan stars floating through a massive cluster of thousands of galaxies, one of the largest structures in the cosmos. These orphan stars, torn from their own galaxies, fill the space between the galaxies of the Perseus cluster with ghostly blue light. This so-called … Read more

Sloshing cold front detected in a massive cluster of galaxies

This article was reviewed according to Science fact checked preprint trusted source proofread OK! by Tomasz Nowakowski, Phys.org RGB (three-color) image of Abell 2566 obtained by appropriate combination of emission measured at 1.4 GHz with VLA C configuration (red), Pan-STARRS r-band (green) and Chandra X-ray soft band (blue). Credit: Kadam et al, 2024 × close … Read more