Bullet Cluster

Bullet Cluster
X-ray photo by Chandra X-ray Observatory. Exposure time was 140 hours. The scale is shown in megaparsecs. Redshift (z) = 0.3, meaning its light has wavelengths stretched by a factor of 1.3.
Observation data (Epoch J2000)
Constellation(s)Carina
Right ascension06h 58m 37.9s
Declination−55° 57′ 0″
Number of galaxies~40
Redshift0.296[1]
Distance1.141 Gpc (3.7 billion light-years).[2]
ICM temperature17.4 ± 2.5 keV
X-ray luminosity1.4 ± 0.3 × 1039 h50−2 joule/s (bolometric)[1]
X-ray flux5.6 ± 0.6 × 10−19 watt/cm2 (0.1–2.4 keV)[1]
Other designations
1E 0657-56, 1E 0657-558

The Bullet Cluster (1E 0657-56) consists of two colliding clusters of galaxies. Strictly speaking, the name Bullet Cluster refers to the smaller subcluster, moving away from the larger one. It is at a comoving radial distance of 1.141 Gpc (3.72 billion light-years).[2]

The object is of a particular note for astrophysicists, because gravitational lensing studies of the Bullet Cluster are claimed to provide strong evidence for the existence of dark matter.[3][4] Observations of other galaxy cluster collisions, such as MACS J0025.4-1222, similarly support the existence of dark matter.[5]

  1. ^ a b c Tucker, W.; Blanco, P.; Rappoport, S. (March 1998). "1E 0657-56: A Contender for the Hottest Known Cluster of Galaxies". Astrophysical Journal Letters. 496 (1). David, L.; Fabricant, D.; Falco, E. E.; Forman, W.; Dressler, A.; Ramella, M.: L5. arXiv:astro-ph/9801120. Bibcode:1998ApJ...496L...5T. doi:10.1086/311234. S2CID 16140198.
  2. ^ a b "NED results for object Bullet Cluster". NASA Extragalactic Database. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
  3. ^ Clowe, Douglas; Gonzalez, Anthony; Markevich, Maxim (2004). "Weak lensing mass reconstruction of the interacting cluster 1E0657-558: Direct evidence for the existence of dark matter". Astrophys. J. 604 (2): 596–603. arXiv:astro-ph/0312273. Bibcode:2004ApJ...604..596C. doi:10.1086/381970. S2CID 12184057.
  4. ^ M. Markevitch; A. H. Gonzalez; D. Clowe; A. Vikhlinin; L. David; W. Forman; C. Jones; S. Murray & W. Tucker (2004). "Direct constraints on the dark matter self-interaction cross-section from the merging galaxy cluster 1E0657-56". Astrophys. J. 606 (2): 819–824. arXiv:astro-ph/0309303. Bibcode:2004ApJ...606..819M. doi:10.1086/383178. S2CID 119334056.
  5. ^ Brada, M; Allen, S. W; Ebeling, H; Massey, R; Morris, R. G; von der Linden, A; Applegate, D (2008). "Revealing the Properties of Dark Matter in the Merging Cluster MACS J0025.4-1222". The Astrophysical Journal. 687 (2): 959. arXiv:0806.2320. Bibcode:2008ApJ...687..959B. doi:10.1086/591246. S2CID 14563896.

© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search