Galaxy discovery
The green flecks are thought to be dwarf galaxies
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Tuesday, 29, May 2007 05:40
Scientists have discovered more than a thousand previously unknown dwarf galaxies in a giant galaxy cluster.
Dwarf galaxies are made up of several billion stars and play a crucial role in cosmic evolution.
Using the Spitzer telescope, scientists at Nasa's Goddard space flight centre studied the Coma cluster, an enormous gathering of galaxies 320 million light-years away in the constellation Coma.
The team found almost 30,000 objects, over 1,000 of which are thought to be dwarf galaxies in Coma. As the observations covered only a portion of the cluster they argue that the results imply a total dwarf galaxy population of at least 4,000.
"With Spitzer's superb capabilities, we have suddenly been able to detect thousands of faint galaxies that weren't seen before," said researcher Leigh Jenkins.
Co-researcher Ann Hornschemeier added: "We're blowing away previous infrared surveys of nearby clusters.
"Thanks to Spitzer, we can observe nearby clusters such as Coma very deeply in a short amount of time. The total observing time is comparable to just a few nights at a ground-based observatory."
The findings were presented yesterday at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, and will also appear in the Astrophysical Journal.