* Astronomy

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RE: CLG J02182-05102

Blobrana · L

Astronomers have experienced the galactic equivalent of discovering pictures of a mild-mannered grandmother partying as a wild youth. New observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal the early "wild" days of galaxy clusters -- a time when the galaxies were bursting with new stars.
What is particularly striking is the fact that the stellar birth rate is higher in the cluster's center than at its edges -- the exact opposite of what happens in our local portion of the universe, where the cores of galaxy clusters are known to be galactic graveyards.
The discovery, made by an international team of researchers led by Kim-Vy Tran of Texas A&M University, College Station, could ultimately reveal more about how such massive galaxies form.
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Ancient Galaxy Cluster Contains "Modern" Galaxies

A team of astronomers including Ivelina Momcheva of the Carnegie Observatories has discovered the most distant cluster of galaxies ever found. In a surprising twist, the young cluster born just 2.8 billion years after the Big Bang appears remarkably similar to the much older present-day galaxy clusters.
CLG J02182-05102, as the cluster is called, contains approximately 60 galaxies, including several enormous red galaxies at its centre holding 10 times as many stars as the Milky Way. Such galaxies were thought to be rare in the universe at this early stage. Similar galaxy clusters today have had billions of more years to develop and grow.
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Spitzer Views Galaxy Cluster CLG J02182-05102

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Ancient City of Galaxies Looks Surprisingly Modern

Astronomers are a bit like archaeologists as they dig back through space and time searching for remnants of the early universe. In a recent deep excavation, courtesy of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have unearthed what may be the most distant, primitive cluster of galaxies ever found.
In a twist, however, this apparent ancestor to today's "big cities" of grouped galaxies looks shockingly modern. Called CLG J02182-05102, the ancient cluster is dominated by old, red and massive galaxies, typical of present-day clusters. For example, it is similar to a young version of the Coma Cluster of today, which has had billions of more years to develop.
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