#Perseus Galaxy Cluster

[thefirststarr]

SPACEMAS DAY 2 ✨🪐🌎☄️☀️🌕

There's a new space telescope in the sky: Euclid. Equipped with two large panoramic cameras, Euclid captures light from the visible all the way to the near-infrared. It took five hours of observing for Euclid's 1.2-meter diameter primary mirror to capture, the 1000+ galaxies in the Perseus cluster which lies 250 million light years away. More than 100,000 galaxies are visible in the background, some as far away as 10 billion light years. Euclid's initial surveys, covering a third of the sky and recording over 2 billion galaxies, will enable a study of how dark matter and dark energy have shaped our universe.

Image Credit: ESA, NASA

[kvetch19]

[the-cosmic-cowbo-y]

That's the best I've heard today

NASA Data Sonification: Black Hole Remix

In this sonification of Perseus. the sound waves astronomers previously identified were extracted and made audible for the first time. The sound waves were extracted outward from the center. (source)

[the-wolf-and-moon]

Perseus's Twin Star Clusters

[quiltofstars]

The Perseus Cluster, Abell 426 // David Gluchowski

The Perseus Cluster is one of the most massive large-scale objects in the "nearby" universe. About 240 million light years away, this cluster contains thousands of galaxies. Clusters like this one can only form if dark matter is present in the universe.

[livingforstars]

The Perseus Cluster of Galaxies - April 5th, 1996.

"Here is one of the largest objects that anyone will ever see in the sky. Each of the fuzzy blobs in the above picture is a galaxy, together making up the Perseus Cluster, one of the closest clusters of galaxies. We view the cluster through the foreground of faint stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. It takes light roughly 300 million years to get here from there, so we only see this cluster as it existed during the age of the dinosaurs. Also known as Abell 426, the center of Perseus cluster is a prodigious source of X-ray radiation, and so helps us study how clusters formed and how gas and dark matter interact. The Perseus Cluster of galaxies is part of the Pisces-Perseus supercluster of galaxies, which spans over 15 degrees and contains over 1000 galaxies."

[silvereyedowl]

[source]

The Perseus Cluster Waves

Credits: NASA, CXC, GSFC, Stephen Walker, et al.

[wonders-of-the-cosmos]

The galaxy on the left is a lenticular galaxy, which rejoices in the name of 2MASX J03193743+4137580. The side-on spiral galaxy on the right is more simply named UGC 2665. Both galaxies lie approximately 350 million light-years from Earth, and they both form part of the enormous Perseus galaxy cluster.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Harris; Acknowledgement: L. Shatz

[sepdet]

First light from ESA's new Euclid space telescope with an ultra high-res, wide-angle lens to map the structures of the universe, helping astronomers study dark matter/energy.

Perseus Cluster of Galaxies

This Moon-sized patch of sky looks back ten billion light-years and shows about 100,000 galaxies, plus some stars from our own galaxy (points with diffraction spikes).

The cluster's Y shape reveals the gravitational influence of dark matter filaments, the web of the universe which until now was too big to fit in any telescope's view.

The Hidden Galaxy (IC 342)

Euclid took only 5 hours to peer through the thickest part of our own galaxy edge-on and capture this galaxy hidden behind it.

Its spiral shape gives us an idea what the Milky Way would look like from above. The image is false color: red has been shifted towards blue so infrared can be shifted up to red we can see.

Irregular Dwarf Galaxy NGC 6822

Just 1.6 million light-years from Earth, this little companion to the Milky Way is so close that until now it could only be captured in low res by ground telescopes or zoomed in to just one small part by Webb or Hubble.

It has a lot of old, low-metal, first-generation stars that can help astronomers study the universe's history.

Globular Star Cluster NGC 6397

It looks similar to a dwarf galaxy, but is much smaller and closer at just 7800 light-years away, and it's within the Milky Way. Perturbations of its outer stars in streaks and waves give clues about gravitational interactions within the Milky Way.

Again, other telescopes can't see the whole cluster in any detail, both because of its size and the high contrast between the bright center and faint outer stars, which would take Hubble hours to capture. Euclid imaged both in just an hour.

The Horsehead Nebula

This smear of dust lies in the larger star-forming region of the Orion Nebula just below Orion's belt. It's one of the most busy star nurseries in our vicinity, just 1375 light-years away.

Euclid's resolution is such that close study of this one-hour exposure should reveal many baby stars, brown dwarfs, and young Jupiter-mass planets.

[photos-of-space]

The subject of this week’s circular Hubble Picture of the Week is situated in the Perseus Cluster, also known as Abell 426, 320 million light-years from Earth. It’s a barred spiral galaxy known as MCG+07-07-072, seen here among a number of photobombing stars that are much closer to Earth than it is. MCG+07-07-072 has quite an unusual shape, for a spiral galaxy, with thin arms emerging from the ends of its barred core to draw a near-circle around its disc.

[silvereyedowl]

[source]

Hubble Rings in a New Galactic View by NASA Hubble Space Telescope

[apod]

2024 May 1

IC 1795: The Fishhead Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: Roberto Colombari & Mauro Narduzzi

Explanation: To some, this nebula looks like the head of a fish. However, this colorful cosmic portrait really features glowing gas and obscuring dust clouds in IC 1795, a star forming region in the northern constellation Cassiopeia. The nebula's colors were created by adopting the Hubble color palette for mapping narrowband emissions from oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur atoms to blue, green and red colors, and further blending the data with images of the region recorded through broadband filters. Not far on the sky from the famous Double Star Cluster in Perseus, IC 1795 is itself located next to IC 1805, the Heart Nebula, as part of a complex of star forming regions that lie at the edge of a large molecular cloud. Located just over 6,000 light-years away, the larger star forming complex sprawls along the Perseus spiral arm of our Milky Way Galaxy. At that distance, IC 1795 would span about 70 light-years across.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240501.html

[strictlyfavorites]

Globular Cluster

NGC 1850 is a fascinating globular cluster located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.

It is situated approximately 160,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Dorado.

NGC 1850 is notable for its rich population of stars and its complex structure, which includes multiple stellar populations.

Credits: NASA, ESA and P. Goudfrooij (Space Telescope Science Institute); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

NGC 2440 Cocoon of a New White Dwarf

NGC 4622

NGC 4622 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Centaurus. It is notable for its unique structure, which features a prominent bar and a distinct pattern of spiral arms.

One of the interesting aspects of NGC 4622 is its orientation; it appears to be viewed edge-on, which allows astronomers to study its structure in detail. The observations made by Hubble contribute to our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution, particularly in how bars influence the dynamics and star formation within galaxies.

The Moon Dressed Like Saturn.

Milky Way over the Pinnacles in Australia

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

NGC 2264, Fox

The Heart Nebula, 7500 light years away from Earth, located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Gemini North Captures Galactic Archipelago Entangled In a Web Of Dark Matter

One century after astronomers proved the existence of galaxies beyond the Milky Way, enormous galaxy clusters are offering clues to today’s cosmic questions

100 years ago Edwin Hubble discovered decisive evidence that other galaxies existed far beyond the Milky Way. This image, captured by the Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, features a portion of the enormous Perseus Cluster, showcasing its ‘island Universes’ in awe-inspiring detail. Observations of these objects continue to shed light not only on their individual characteristics, but also on cosmic mysteries such as dark matter.

Among the many views of the Universe that modern telescopes offer, some of the most breathtaking are images like this. Dotted with countless galaxies — each one of incomprehensible size — they make apparent the tremendous scale and richness of the cosmos. Taking center stage here, beguiling in its seeming simplicity, the elliptical galaxy NGC 1270 radiates an ethereal glow into the surrounding darkness. And although it may seem like an island adrift in the deep ocean of space, this object is part of something much larger than itself.

NGC 1270 is just one member of the Perseus Cluster, a group of thousands of galaxies that lies around 240 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Perseus. This image, taken with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on the Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory — supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab — captures a dazzling collection of galaxies in the central region of this enormous cluster.

Looking at such a diverse array, shown here in spectacular clarity, it’s astonishing to think that when NGC 1270 was first discovered in 1863 it was not widely accepted that other galaxies even existed. Many of the objects that are now known to be galaxies were initially described as nebulae, owing to their cloudy, amorphous appearance. The idea that they are entities of a similar size to our own Milky Way, or ‘island Universes’ as Immanuel Kant called them, was speculated on by several astronomers throughout history, but was not proven. Instead, many thought they were smaller objects on the outskirts of the Milky Way, which many believed to comprise most or all of the Universe.

The nature of these mysterious objects and the size of the Universe were the subjects of astronomy’s famous Great Debate, held in 1920 between astronomers Heber Curtis and Harlow Shapley. The debate remained unsettled until 1924 when Edwin Hubble, using the Hooker Telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory, observed stars within some of the nebulae to calculate how far they were from Earth. The results were decisive; they were far beyond the Milky Way. Astronomers’ notion of the cosmos underwent a dramatic shift, now populated with innumerable strange, far-off galaxies as large and complex as our own.

As imaging techniques have improved, piercing ever more deeply into space, astronomers have been able to look closer and closer at these ‘island Universes’ to deduce what they might be like. For instance, researchers have observed powerful electromagnetic energy emanating from the heart of NGC 1270, suggesting that it harbors a frantically feeding supermassive black hole. This characteristic is seen in around 10% of galaxies and is detectable via the presence of an accretion disk — an intense vortex of matter swirling around and gradually being devoured by the central black hole.

It’s not only the individual galaxies that astronomers are interested in; hints at many ongoing mysteries lie in their relationship to and interactions with one another. For example, the fact that huge groups like the Perseus Cluster exist at all points to the presence of the enigmatic substance we call dark matter [1]. If there were no such invisible, gravitationally interactive material, then astronomers believe galaxies would be spread more or less evenly across space rather than collecting into densely populated clusters. Current theories suggest that an invisible web of dark matter draws galaxies together at the intersections between its colossal tendrils, where its gravitational pull is strongest.

Although dark matter is invoked to explain observed cosmic structures, the nature of the substance itself remains elusive. As we look at images like this one, and consider the strides made in our understanding over the past century, we can sense a tantalizing hint of just how much more might be discovered in the decades to come. Perhaps hidden in images like this are clues to the next big breakthrough. How much more will we know about our Universe in another century?

Notes

[1] The discovery of dark matter in galaxies is in-part attributed to American astronomer Vera C. Rubin, who used the rotation of galaxies to infer the presence of an invisible, yet gravitationally interactive, material holding them together. She is also the name inspiration for NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, currently under construction in Chile, which will begin operations in 2025.

TOP IMAGE: NGC 1270 is just one member of the Perseus Cluster, a group of thousands of galaxies that lies around 240 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Perseus. This image, taken with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on the Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, which is supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab, captures a dazzling collection of galaxies in the central region of this enormous cluster. Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/ Image Processing: J. Miller & M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab) Acknowledgements: PI: Jisu Kang (Seoul National University)

[spacenutspod]

The elliptical galaxy NGC 1270 lies about 240 million light-years away. But it’s not alone. It’s part of the Perseus Cluster (Abell 426), the brightest X-ray object in the sky and one of the most massive objects in the Universe. NGC 1270 plays a starring role in a new image from the Gemini North telescope. However, the image doesn’t show the dark matter that has a firm grip on the galaxy and the rest of the galaxies in the Perseus Cluster. Ancient astronomers would be astounded by what we’ve learned about the Universe. Even astronomers like Edwin Hubble from the 20th would be amazed at the power of our modern telescopes and what they’ve shown us. At that time, distant galaxies appeared fuzzy and were called nebulae. Even the nature of Andromeda, our closest galactic neighbour, was uncertain. In 1920, Hubble and others were debating whether Andromeda and other objects they were seeing were small objects in the Milky Way’s outer regions, nebulae, or other galaxies. German philosopher and Enlightenment thinker Immanuel Kant coined the term ‘island Universes’ to describe all these fuzzy objects, hinting at their true nature. The idea of other galaxies beyond our own dates back a long way, but there was no way to test it. Then, in 1924, Edwin Hubble ended the debate. He was able to show that individual stars in some of these so-called “nebulae” were actually far beyond the Milky Way. The discovery was decisive, and we now know that the Universe is populated by hundreds of billions or even trillions of other galaxies like our own Milky Way. Now, astronomers use powerful telescopes to examine other galaxies in great detail. They’ve even used the James Webb Space Telescope to peer back in time at the Universe’s earliest galaxies. Anyone can quickly examine hundreds of amazing images of other galaxies of all types. Enormous objects like the Perseus Cluster alert us to the presence of something even more mysterious and challenging to understand than the nature of galaxies. Something binds these individual galaxies together into a coherent group, and we call that dark matter. There’s a growing chorus of scientific voices suggesting we stop calling it dark matter and instead use the more accurate term invisible matter. But whatever we decide to call it, dark matter makes up most of the matter in the Universe and dwarfs the “normal” matter that interacts with light and makes up stars, planets, and us. As cosmology has progressed, scientists have mapped the universe’s large-scale structure. These maps show how galaxies and their groups are organized along filaments of dark matter that act as scaffolds. The Perseus Cluster is associated with the Perseus-Pegasus Filament, a long, thin structure of galaxies that stretches over a billion light-years. A computer model of the large-scale structure of the universe using the Illustris simulator. This image depicts the dark matter and gas involved in forming galaxies and galaxy clusters, as well as the filaments connecting them. Image Credit: Illustris TNG If there were no dark matter, scientists think that the Universe would be far more homogenous. The galaxies would be spread more evenly throughout space. But that’s not what we see, and NGC 1270 and the rest of the Perseus Cluster show it clearly. Currently, scientific theory suggests that a web of invisible dark matter draws galaxies together. They’re situated where dark matter’s massive tendrils intersect. That’s where its gravitational pull is strongest. In short, the Perseus Cluster and NGC 1270 wouldn’t be where they are and wouldn’t be grouped together without dark matter. The cluster, and all other groups, clusters, and super-clusters, are firmly in dark matter’s grip. American astronomer Vera Rubin played a huge role in our modern understanding of dark matter. She observed that stars and gas at a galaxy’s outer edge were moving much faster than predicted by the visible mass of the galaxy. Newtonian physics suggests they should be moving slower. Rubin and her colleagues thought that there must be a large amount of invisible matter beyond the visible edges of galaxies. Eventually, she figured out that there must be six times more dark matter than visible matter in galaxies. Rubin faced many obstacles in getting her results accepted. As a woman, she wasn’t part of the male-dominated world of 1970s astronomy. She was denied access to some facilities early in her career, which slowed her progress. Now, she’s given full credit and mentioned alongside Hubble and other influential figures in astronomy. One of the most powerful and unique observatories ever conceived is named after her. Regardless of what we call it and who discovered it, our Universe is dominated by something we don’t fully understand. It’s remarkable that scientists can map invisible matter by its inference alone, without knowing what it is. The most widely accepted understanding of dark matter is in the Lambda Cold Dark Matter (Lambda-CDM) model of cosmology, also called the Standard Model of Big Bang Cosmology. It successfully recreates many things that we observe in the Universe, including how galaxies form, how the Universe expands, and, of course, the large-scale structure of the Universe. But even Lambda-CDM can’t tell us what dark matter is. Most think it’s some type of particle, but if it is, it’s extremely elusive. That doesn’t stop us from seeing its effect when we observe objects like NGC 1270 and the Perseus Cluster. The post Dark Matter Has a Firm Grip on These Galaxies appeared first on Universe Today.

[silvereyedowl]

[source]

NGC 1275: A Galactic Collision

Credits: HubbleHeritage Team, STScI, AURA, M. Donahue, STScI, J. Trauger, JPL, NASA