Most massive and luminous galaxy cluster identified
As vast as the Milky Way may seem, our sprawling galaxy is but a speck next to the largest structures in the universe: galaxy clusters — collections of hundreds to thousands of galaxies bound together by gravity. At the heart of most galaxy clusters sit massive old galaxies, within which only a few new stars are born each year. Now a multi-institution team led by MIT researchers has identified a galaxy cluster seven billion light-years away that dwarfs most known clusters, churning out a dazzling 740 new stars per year in the central galaxy. The galaxy cluster is among the most massive and most luminous in the universe. While scientists have formally catalogued the cluster by the name SPT-CLJ2344-4243, the MIT-led group has a more informal moniker: the Phoenix cluster, named after the constellation in which it resides. An artist's impression of a galaxy at the center of the Phoenix...