![]() Combined radio and X-ray observations of supermassive black holes in other galaxy clusters have shown that a significant fraction of this energy is released as jets of outbursts that can last millions of years. As matter swirls toward a black hole, an enormous amount of gravitational energy is released. Astronomers think that the X-ray cavities were carved out of the surrounding gas by powerful jets of high-energy particles emanating from near a supermassive black hole in the central galaxy of the cluster. For the location of these "inner cavities", mouse over the image. ![]() The X-ray cavities can be seen in this composite image that shows the Chandra X-ray data in blue and optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope (red, green, and blue). These filaments surround large cavities - regions with greatly reduced X-ray emission - in the hot gas. This is longer than the entire breadth of the Milky Way galaxy, making them the most extensive filaments ever seen in a galaxy cluster. These massive cosmic threads of gas and dust, most of which had never been detected before, extend for 160,000 to 330,000 lights years. ![]() Clay-Magellan's optical data reveal narrow filaments from the center of the cluster where stars are forming. New observations of this galaxy cluster at X-ray, ultraviolet, and optical wavelengths by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Clay-Magellan telescope located in Chile, are helping astronomers better understand this remarkable object. The rate at which hot gas is cooling in the center of the cluster is also the largest ever observed. The cluster has shattered multiple records in the past: In 2012, scientists announced that the Phoenix cluster featured the highest rate of cooling hot gas and star formation ever seen in the center of a galaxy cluster, and is the most powerful producer of X-rays of all known clusters. New data provide more details on how the galaxy cluster SPT-CLJ2344-4243, nicknamed the Phoenix Cluster for the constellation in which it is found, challenges this trend. It is thought that the central black hole acts as a thermostat, preventing rapid cooling of surrounding hot gas and impeding star formation. Without heating by outbursts from this black hole, the copious amounts of hot gas found in the central galaxy should cool, allowing stars to form at a high clip. The central galaxy contains a supermassive black hole roughly a thousand times more massive than the one at the center of our galaxy. They generally have one giant galaxy in their middle that forms stars at a rate significantly slower than most galaxies - including our Milky Way. Galaxy clusters tend to be poor at producing new stars in their centers. After all, they are huge conglomerations of galaxies, hot gas, and dark matter and represent the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity. Galaxy clusters are often described by superlatives.
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