two merging galaxy clusters’ tagged posts

Image of a galaxy cluster, which may contain hundreds or thousands of galaxies bound gravitationally. Credit: NASA

Two galaxy clusters in the process of merging created a layer of surprisingly hot gas between them that University of Colorado Boulder astronomers believe is from turbulence caused by banging into each other at supersonic speeds. The two clusters, which are coming together to create the larger galaxy cluster Abell 115, are located some 2.4 billion light years away. The turbulent area of hot gas sandwiched between the two clusters, which CU Boulder Professor Jack Burns likened to a wake behind a motorboat, is about 300 million degrees F...