Giant Galaxy-Packed Filament Revealed

[2on2u]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120517143639.htm



Giant Galaxy-Packed Filament Revealed

ScienceDaily (May 17, 2012) — A McGill-led research team using the Herschel Space Observatory has discovered a giant, galaxy-packed filament ablaze with billions of new stars. The filament connects two clusters of galaxies that, along with a third cluster, will smash together and give rise to one of the largest galaxy superclusters in the universe.

The filament is the first structure of its kind spied in a critical era of cosmic buildup when colossal collections of galaxies called superclusters began to take shape. The glowing galactic bridge offers astronomers a unique opportunity to explore how galaxies evolve and merge to form superclusters.

"We are excited about this filament, because we think the intense star formation we see in its galaxies is related to the consolidation of the surrounding supercluster," said Kristen Coppin, a postdoctoral fellow in astrophysics at McGill and lead author of a new paper in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

[Swede]

1. I love this stuff.

Thanks for posting.

[onehandle]

2. Cool. Some amazing things have formed in our 6000 year old universe. nt

[FarCenter]

3. The universe was created last Monday

It was just made to look old.

[onehandle]

6. Completely possible. nt

[awoke_in_2003]

7. I am still hiding fossils

To mess with people's minds

[Vidar]

16. Probably the consequence of some divine/infernal bowel movement.

[DontTreadOnMe]

4. SuperCluster... is that another name for the...

House of Representatives.

Just a bunch of Superclusterfuks!

[awoke_in_2003]

8. Different type of cluster...

On edit: doh. Didn't read your whole post

[Canuckistanian]

5. I'm always amazed

That they can make these determinations from what looks to be an ordinary image.

But someone noticed the subtle difference and analyzed it further. And no doubt studied it in depth using methods that we can't immediately imagine.

It's like how the first astronomer figured out that these tiny, unexplained variations in star brightness were actually PLANETS passing in front of the star - again, amazing.

[RainDog]

9. k&r n/t

[Uncle Joe]

10. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, 2on2u.

[CK_John]

11. Is that circle the filament or marking put on the photo to highlight the subjects? nt

[Zanzoobar]

12. That's my neighbor's Christmas tree

I took that foto when I was three sheets to the wind. I must have emailed it to sciencedaily in a drunken haze.

I'm rirry shorry.

[burrowowl]

13. K&R

Beautiful!

[DiverDave]

14. Check this out:

[IMG][/IMG]

[tabasco]

18. Very cool.

Thanks.

[Warren DeMontague]

15. That thing is bigger than anything our tiny brains can possibly hope to realistically conceive

and yet, it still sounds like a brand of sugar free gum.

[tabasco]

17. "All of this "in the universe" talk

should be qualified with "as much as we can observe."

It's stupid to believe we are observing more than a tiny fraction of the universe.