XMMXCS 2215-1738

XMMXCS 2215-1738 is a galaxy cluster that lies 10 billion light-years away, or redshift z=1.45 . It was discovered by the XMM Cluster Survey in 2006.

XMMXCS 2215-1738 is one of the most distant galaxy cluster discovered by June 2006. It is embedded in intergalactic gas that has a temperature of 10 million degrees. The estimated mass of the cluster is 500 trillion solar masses. The cluster was discovered and studied using the XMM Newton and Keck Telescopes. The cluster is surprisingly large and evolved for a cluster that existed when the universe was only 3 billion years old.

Lead by University of Sussex researchers, part of the XMM Cluster Survey (XCS) used X-ray Multi Mirror (XMM) Newton satellite to find it, Keck Telescope to determine distance, and used the Hubble Space Telescope to further image it.

It contains hundreds of reddish galaxys surrounded by x-ray emitting gas. It is theorized to have a mass 500 trillion times the mass of the Sun.

Image

The galaxy is called XMMXCS 2215-1734 in many references, with some news sources listing both names. The source of the naming contradiction between XMMXCS 2215-1734 and XMMXCS 2215-1738 is not known. However, XMMXCS 2215-1738 seems to be the more accurate.

See also

• 2XMM J0830
• galaxy cluster
• XMM Newton
• XMM Cluster Survey (XCS)

References

• Most Distant Galaxy Cluster Found 10 Billion light-years Away XMM Cluster Survey (XCS)
• The XMM Cluster Survey: A Massive Galaxy Cluster at z=1.45 S. A. Stanford (arXiv preprint) Sun, 4 Jun 2006 16:23:55 GMT

External links

• Astronomers Find Most Distant Galaxy Cluster Yet (SpaceDaily) Jun 7, 2006
• Maturity of Farthest Galaxy Cluster Surprises Astronomers Christine L. Kulyk (SPACE.com) 8 June 2006 06:20 am ET