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2mo ago

James Webb Telescope Unveils Missing Link in Phoenix Galaxy Cluster's Star Formation

NASA's Webb Telescope detects intermediate-temperature gas, solving a long-standing mystery about the Phoenix cluster's extreme star formation activity.

Image
The core of the Phoenix cluster is shown across the whole electromagnetic spectrum. The bright purples represent X-rays produced by the hot gas, and the dashed purple outlines show regions where this hot gas has been pushed away by the radio jets from the supermassive black hole. The radio jets themselves are shown in red colors. The blues and yellows represent visible light emitted by cool gas and stars. The green contours show the “warm” gas that is in the process of cooling, newly measured in the MIT study with JWST. Credits: NASA

Overview

  • The Phoenix galaxy cluster, 5.8 billion light-years away, is forming stars at an unusually high rate, defying expectations for its age and size.
  • Researchers have identified warm gas, previously undetected, as the missing piece in the cluster's cooling process that fuels star formation.
  • The James Webb Space Telescope used its advanced mid-infrared spectrometer to map gas at around 540,000°F, bridging the gap between hot and cold phases.
  • This discovery confirms that the cluster's star-forming fuel is generated internally through extreme cooling, rather than coming from external sources.
  • The findings provide a complete picture of the hot-to-warm-to-cold gas cycle and open new possibilities for studying star formation in other galaxy clusters.