{"id":485267,"date":"2026-05-15T01:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T01:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/485267\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T01:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T01:44:12","slug":"galaxy-cluster-abell-2029-had-violent-past-chandra-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/485267\/","title":{"rendered":"Galaxy Cluster Abell 2029 Had Violent Past, Chandra Reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deep X-ray observations of Abell 2029<\/a> \u2014 sometimes described as the most relaxed galaxy cluster in the Universe \u2014 uncovered evidence of an ancient cosmic collision, including a gigantic spiral of superheated gas stretching 2 million light-years across.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"This<\/a><\/p>\n

This composite image combines both the original X-ray and the subtracted X-ray images of the deep Chandra observations of Abell 2029. Image credit: NASA \/ CXC \/ CfA \/ Watson et al. \/ PanSTARRS \/ SAO \/ N. Wolk \/ P. Edmonds.<\/p>\n

\u201cGalaxy clusters are the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity,\u201d said Boston University astronomer Courtney Watson and colleagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are made up of hundreds or even thousands of galaxies, unseen dark matter, and a huge amount of gas that fills in the space between the galaxies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis gas is typically heated to millions of degrees, which makes it glow in X-ray light.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using NASA\u2019s Chandra X-ray Observatory<\/a>, the astronomers obtained the deepest X-ray observation ever made of Abell 2029, a galaxy cluster located approximately one billion light-years away in the constellation of Virgo.<\/p>\n

The new data reveal that this galaxy cluster is still settling down after a raucous collision with another smaller cluster about four billion years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think the spiral shape in the hot gas formed when gas in the cluster sloshed to the side because of the gravitational effects of the cluster collision \u2014 similar to how wine moves in a wine glass,\u201d the researchers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sloshing spiral in Abell 2029 is one of the longest ever seen, extending about two million light-years from the center of the cluster.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are several other key pieces of evidence for the past bash, never before seen together in a cluster, allowing us to trace the collision history of the cluster in unprecedented detail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, we see hints of a wide splash of cooler gas created by the collision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere may also be a shock wave \u2014 akin to a sonic boom from a supersonic plane \u2014 in the superheated gas left over from the collision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, there is a \u2018bay\u2019 feature in the hot gas, which we think might be caused by an overlap between the outer parts of the spiral and gas stripped away from the smaller cluster as it passed through the larger one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThough we think it is a relic from the collision, other explanations for this structure are also possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s computer simulations suggest that the smaller cluster was about ten times less massive than the larger cluster.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sloshing spiral formed when the smaller cluster made its first pass through the larger cluster, pulling its gas sideways,\u201d the scientists said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gravity of the larger cluster then caused the other cluster to slow down and get pulled back in for a second collision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis drove a shock front and left behind a wake of material, forming the splash region.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo uncover these various features the authors used a special technique that examined how much the cluster\u2019s hot gas deviates from a symmetrical shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the hot gas is symmetrical and is approximately shaped like an oval.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s results<\/a> were published in the Astrophysical Journal.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

Courtney B. Watson et al. 2026. Deep Chandra X-Ray Observations of A2029: The Merger History of a Relaxed, Strong Cool Core Cluster. ApJ 996, 106; doi: 10.3847\/1538-4357\/ae2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deep X-ray observations of Abell 2029 \u2014 sometimes described as the most relaxed galaxy cluster in the Universe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[212064,212065,52407,18,7443,85063,19,17,29227,1024,133,101366],"class_list":{"0":"post-485267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-a2029","9":"tag-abell-2029","10":"tag-chandra","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-galaxy","13":"tag-galaxy-cluster","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-merger","17":"tag-nasa","18":"tag-science","19":"tag-x-rays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116576064405565168","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}