Galaxy Cluster 11.1 Billion Light-Years From Earth Discovered

The astronomers discovered a cluster of galaxies so far away, which is about 11.1 billion light-years from Earth. They named the cluster of galaxies-CL J1001+0220 (or CL J1001). They discovered it using a combination of observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other space telescopes.

Tao Wang, the lead investigator of the discovery from French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) stated that this galaxy cluster spurts unlike any we've ever seen. The cluster has 11 galaxies and nine of them seem to be experiencing a firestorm of new star births, according to Space.

Distance record! #GalaxyCluster CL J1001+0220 is located ~11.1 billion LightYears from Earth https://t.co/35VWrO5vJ1 pic.twitter.com/AXwwsby3fs

— Dainius Pal (@Nalsenai) August 31, 2016

The description of the discovery was published Tuesday in the Astrophysical Journal. The discovery of the cluster of galaxies means that the earliest galaxy clusters were shaped around 700 million years sooner than previously thought. It seems to be that newborn galaxy clusters in its earliest stage of evolution.

"It appears that we have captured this galaxy cluster at a critical stage just as it has shifted from a loose collection of galaxies into a young, but fully formed galaxy cluster," said the David Elbaz, the co-author of the study. Meanwhile, Alexis Finoguenov of the University of Helsinki in Finland and another co-author of the study said that they think they are going to learn a lot about the formation of clusters and the galaxies they contain by studying this object. He further said that they are going to be searching hard for other examples.

A cluster of galaxiesC is a structure that comprises of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound together by gravity. They are the biggest known gravitationally bound structures in the universe. One of its key features is the intracluster medium (ICM), which consists of heated gas between the galaxies. Among the distinguished galaxy clusters in the nearby Universe are the Hercules Cluster, Virgo Cluster, Fornax Cluster and the Coma Cluster. The notable galaxy clusters in the early universe and in the distant are SPT-CL J2106-5844 and SPT-CL J0546-5345.