Tag: center

A Young Giant Galaxy Cluster

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In the early universe, there was a huge amount of swirling matter and light that didn’t really have much structure.  Compared to today’s much more regular dotting of galaxy clusters and superclusters, the early universe was all over the place.  But as will all things, there had to be a first.  a first star, a first galaxy, and even a first galaxy cluster. The massive cluster of galaxies known as IDCS J1426.5+3508 is the most distant massive galaxy cluster ever discovered, and it has some interesting properties that point to how it formed and evolved so quickly.  One such property is...

Gamma Ray Raindrops in a gorgeous animation

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I love data visualization.  If I didn’t love astronomy and explosions so much, I would probably be in the art form of visualizing data in fascinating ways.  Who knows? I may change my life’s work some day. A recent APOD takes the art to a new level.  By looking at time sensitive measurements of Gamma Rays from an incredible active galactic nucleus (AGN), we can get an idea of how a gamma ray burst comes at us from so far away, and what the difference is between the usual activity and a true burst of radiation. Each circle represents a...