Nasa's Chandra spots 4 super cluster of galaxies on a collision course
All four clusters of galaxies will merge to form one of the most massive objects in the universe.
Astronomers have made use of data from National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (Nasa) Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes to complie a detailed map of collision between four galaxiy clusters.
According to Nasa, this collision of galaxy clusters is a rare collision.
As if it is a magic trick of the universe, these four galaxy clusters will consolidate to become one of the most gigantic objects in the universe.
Each galaxy cluster has a mass of at least several hundred trillion times that of the Sun.
GALAXY CLUSTERS
In the universe percieved as a well-ordered whole, simply known as cosmos, the galaxy clusters are largest structures sticking together; courtesy gravity.
"Clusters consist of hundreds or even thousands of galaxies embedded in hot gas, and contain an even larger amount of invisible dark matter. Sometimes two galaxy clusters collide, as in the case of the Bullet Cluster, and occasionally more than two will collide at the same time," Nasa explained.
Photo description: In the northern (top) pair seen in the image, the centres of each cluster have already passed by each other once, about 300 to 400 million years ago, and will eventually swing back around. The southern pair at the bottom of the image has two clusters that are close to approaching each other for the first time.
MEGA STRUCTURE ASSEMBLING IN SYSTEM NAMED ABELL 1758
Scientists have new observations to look into. These new observations show a mega-structure being assembled in a system called Abell 1758.
Abell 1758 is located three billion light-years from mother Earth. Abell 1758 holds two pairs of colliding galaxy clusters. These galaxy clusters are heading toward one another.
Each pair of the galaxy cluster in Abell 1758 contains two galaxy clusters that are well on their way to merging.
In the northern (top) pair seen in the composite image, the centers of each cluster have already passed by each other once, about 300 to 400 million years ago, and will eventually swing back around. The southern pair at the bottom of the image has two clusters that are close to approaching each other for the first time.