Image taken by the Vera K. Rubin Dark Energy Observatory camera. (Image credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)
Astronomers have found two giant galaxies engaged in a cosmic tug-of-war 700 million light-years from our planet, and for the first time in a galaxy so close, they have observed a faint stream of stars moving from one to the other.
Observations of the galaxy cluster Abell 3667 have revealed a dim bridge of stars a million light-years long connecting two of its brightest galaxies. Astronomers say the cluster is the result of a merger of two smaller groups that began about a billion years ago, each with its own dominant central galaxy. As these giants and their satellite galaxies continue to merge, the bridge of stars between them offers a unique opportunity to study the history of the clusters and understand how powerful gravitational forces operate.
“This is the first time that an object of this magnitude and size has been detected in the local galaxy cluster,” said Anthony Englert, a doctoral student at Brown University in Rhode Island who led the new study describing the observations. “It was a real surprise to us that we were able to image such a faint object.”
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Sourse: www.livescience.com
