NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has captured a remarkable discovery of a galaxy cluster, Zwicky 8338, where two streams of superheated gas are crossing each other, potentially leading to the creation of new structure in this cosmic landscape.
A Comet-like Tail of Hot Gas
The massive tail looks like a comet’s tail and is more than 1.6 million light years wide trailing behind Zwicky 8338, one of the galaxies within the river(cluster). The tail is seen here with the galaxy trailing as hot gas it is plunging through stripped some of its galactic gas away from it.
This is not, however, the only pair of tails following behind a galaxy in this system. Astronomers found shorter tails of this nature from a different galaxy near to this latest one before. The more extended and fresher set of tails, however, were only detected in a deeper observation made with Chandra, which picked out fainter X-rays.
Crossing the streams: A cosmic event
This finding is evidence to the researchers that some of these streams streaming out behind the rushing galaxies have actually already passed each other. The merger of the two streams likely forged new, more massive structures in the galaxy cluster Zwicky 8338.
Zwicky 8338 already looks like a Sci Fi maelstrom doing what appears to be a K-mart blue light special impression with galaxies, hot gas and shock waves (akin to sonic booms generated by supersonic jets) all crammed into a relatively small area of the universe. Both of these galaxy clusters have unfortunately collided and this is the result shown here — the Zwicky 8338 cluster, a chaotic tangle of galaxies rushing in to join the merger.
Conclusion
Observing the crossing streams has yielded a better understanding of how galaxy clusters can get so dynamic and turbulent, NASA said. The researchers say this could help to create new structures, and may also explain why pockets of cooler gas in clouds break up and lose most of their material – reducing the pressure even further, so that the remaining particles can go on to form the next generations of stars and planets. The video… is a testament to the astonishing power, and baffling complexity of this universe that we call home.
