The satellite data as observed by XMM-Newton and NASA’s Chandra X-ray had led Renato Dupke and his colleagues from the University of Michigan witness the merger of two galaxies at speed of more than 2,000 miles per second.
This collective observation of Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray satellite has given cosmologists an interesting fact regarding the conception of collision of galaxies.
Until today, such high speed with which these two are merging thought to be impossible, as observed from the previous computer models for celestial objects.
XMM-Newton (Multi Mirror Mission) is the biggest European satellite having the most sensitive telescope mirrors and with its advanced detector, it can detect more X-ray activities going around. It has proved its worth before, as it was the first satellite, which helped the scientists to observe the influence of gravitational field on a neutron star on the light it emits.
This detection provides hints to solve the puzzle of Abell 576. The only explanation for this was to take bullet collision, in which one galaxy passes through other one - like a bullet traveling through an apple.
However, moving gas in the cluster was colder by astronomical parameters. Previous assumption says that if gas moves at such high velocity, it should have temperature double the measured 50 million degree Celsius.
In the words of Renato Dukpke:
The job of explaining these high speeds now rests with the cosmologists. Major cluster-cluster collisions are expected to be rare, with estimates of their frequency ranging from less than one in a thousand clusters to one in a hundred. On collision, their internal gas is thrown out of equilibrium and if unrecognized, causes underestimation of its mass by between 5 and 20 percent.
ESA consider it as an important event as it will help the cosmologists to describe how the Universe expands. Study of mass and velocity of a gas cluster provide scientists an excellent opportunity to estimate the cosmological parameters.
Considering this merger as an important event, Astrophysical journal has accepted it for publication.
Image Credit: Universetoday
Via: ESA
