Abell 2384: bending the jumper between two clusters of galaxies
US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — Several hundred million years ago, two clusters of galaxies collided and then passed through each other. This powerful event created a stream of hot gas from each cluster of galaxies, which formed an unusual jumper between two objects. Currently, it is being destroyed by particles expelled from a supermassive black hole.
Galactic clusters are the largest objects in the universe held by gravity. They contain hundreds or thousands of galaxies, a huge amount of gas of several million degrees, which glows in x-rays, and huge reservoirs of invisible dark matter.
The system, known as Abell 2384, shows giant structures that can occur when two clusters of galaxies collide. The superheated gas jumper at Abell 2384 is shown in our composite image taken by NASA‘s Chandra X-ray Observatory and XMM-Newton ESA, as well as a giant radio telescope in India.
This image shows the effect of a jet flying out of a supermassive black hole in the center of a galaxy in one of the clusters. The jet is so powerful that it bends the shape of the gas bridge, which extends over 3 million light years and has a mass of about 6 trillion Suns.
Radio emission extends 1.2 million light-years from the black hole to the north and 1.7 million light-years to the south. Northern radio emission is also weaker than southern. These differences can be explained by the fact that radio emission to the north is slowed down by the interaction of the jet with hot gas in the jumper.
Chandra often observes cavities in hot gas created by jets at the centers of galaxy clusters such as the Perseus cluster, MS 0735 and the Ophiuchus cluster. However, Abell 2384 offers a rare case of such an interaction occurring in the outer region of the cluster. It is also unusual that a supermassive black hole driving a jet stream is not in the largest galaxy located in the center of the cluster.
Astronomers believe objects like Abell 2384 are important for understanding the growth of galaxy clusters. Based on computer simulation, it was shown that after a collision between two clusters of galaxies, they oscillate like a pendulum and pass through each other several times before merging, forming a larger cluster. Based on these simulations, astronomers believe that the two clusters in Abell 2384 will eventually merge.
Abell 2384 is 1.2 billion light-years from Earth. Based on previous work, scientists estimate the total mass of Abel 2384 in 260 trillion solar masses. This includes dark matter, hot gas, and individual galaxies.
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