The James Webb and Hubble telescopes reveal the Christmas Tree galaxy cluster.
Miscellaneous / / November 14, 2023
In deep space they are already preparing for New Year's. And you?
International group of scientists showed a new perspective on the unusual “Christmas Tree” galaxy cluster. It is located about 4.3 billion light years from Earth.
This place was identified by Hubble a few years ago and designated by astronomers as MACS0416. In a new study using the more advanced James Webb Telescope, researchers noticed 14 new transitional objects - transients. They are similar to individual stars, but periodically become several orders of magnitude brighter and then disappear, explained Haojing Yang, a professor at the University of Missouri (USA). Because of this flickering of lights, the cluster sometimes looks like a fir tree decorated for the holiday, which is why it was renamed.
Thanks to a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, which literally magnifies the galaxies behind the cluster, we can see many transients in certain regions of this region.
Haojing Yang
Astronomer from the University of Missouri (USA)
Over 126 days of observations, scientists determined that two objects were supernovae whose lifespan was coming to an end. Another 12 are stars of different natures. But this is not all that is in this cluster, astronomers are sure.
Now the researchers want to track how the brightness of the detected objects changes over time. Then they will be able to accurately determine their size and origin, understand the structure of the “magnifying glass” and how it relates to the distribution of dark matter.
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