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.

• 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.

3 Articles

MIT News NASA Tech Explorist