A cluster of galaxies hides more than the type of bodies for which it gets its name. We also find planets, stars, and other celestial objects ejected from their galaxies into interstellar space by strong gravitational pull in these regions of the universe. Today, James Webb has visualized a mysterious type of light within these clusters called “intra-cluster light.” can reveal many secrets of dark matter and the evolution of the universe.
The intracumular lumen is very diffuse. Its origin goes back to those orphan galaxy stars. They float in the center of galaxy clusters without being gravitationally bound to any of them. Its light is so dim that it is too difficult to catch from Earth.. It is for this reason that James Webb had a unique opportunity to reveal some of the mysteries of the cosmos.
The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) led the study.. Thanks to this, they received new information about the processes of formation of clusters of galaxies and, more importantly, about the behavior of dark matter. The study was published in the journal Letters from an astrophysical journal.
Mireia Montes and Ignacio Trujillo are the researchers who managed to study the intracluster light of the SMACS 0723 cluster. Capture boasts an unprecedented amount of detailand it is twice as deep as others taken by Hubble.
“This work highlights the processing that has been done to study the intracumular lumen, weak and extended structure, and it is absolutely necessary to avoid errors in our measurements.”
Mireia Montes, IAC researcher and author of the article
James Webb’s ability to observe the faintest lights in the universe
Thanks to the technology included in James Webb, capturing intra-cluster light will not only serve to improve the understanding of dark matter. Moreover, this ability to perceive such dim lights is also will allow us to observe the universe at deeper levels. Let’s remember that as light travels and expands in space, it gets dimmer. Thanks to James Webb, it would be much easier to investigate these cases in more detail.
“In this study, we show the great potential of James Webb in observing such a faint object. This will allow us to study galaxy clusters that are much further away, and in much greater detail.”
Mireya Montes, Research Fellow, IAC
But how can the intracumular lumen help us study the mysterious dark matter?
It is known that the Universe consists of 23% dark matter; the number is much larger than that of baryonic or ordinary matter. Galaxies and their clusters are largely ordered by this invisible matter. stars that emit light within a cluster follow the cluster’s gravitational pattern. Thus, the researchers could track the distribution of dark matter in these structures by simply observing the movement of intergalactic stars.
Ignacio Trujillo, second author of the paper, confirms this. He claims that “James Webb will allow us to characterize the distribution of dark matter on these vast structures with unparalleled precision and shed light on their underlying nature.”
Source: Hiper Textual
