December 19, 2014

Herschel's view of the early Universe reveals galaxy cluster fireworks

Astronomers using ESA's Herschel space observatory have found, for the first time, fireworks of star birth within galaxies at the dense core of a massive early Universe galaxy cluster. This frenzy of star formation reveals the young lives of now "red and dead" elliptical galaxies and gives new clues to the evolution of some of the largest structures in the Universe.

This multi-telescope composite combines X-ray, infrared and optical data of the galaxy cluster XDCPJ0044.0-2033. The purple/pink in the image corresponds to infrared emission measured by Herschel and X-ray emission detected with NASA's Chandra telescope. Infrared data from ESA's Herschel telescope has revealed where interstellar dust in the cluster's core is being heated by young, hot, stars. This is the first time that star formation has been found in the core of a cluster of this size and age. The X-ray data were used to map the mass of this giant cluster. These data have been combined with optical and near-infrared images of the cluster captured by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan's Subaru telescope and the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope, the data from which are coloured red, green and blue in this image. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/INAF/P.Tozzi, et al; Optical: NAOJ/Subaru and ESO/VLT; Infrared: ESA/Herschel/J. Santos, et al.
This multi-telescope composite combines X-ray, infrared and optical data of the galaxy cluster XDCPJ0044.0-2033. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/INAF/P.Tozzi, et al; Optical: NAOJ/Subaru and ESO/VLT; Infrared: ESA/Herschel/J. Santos, et al.

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