A bunch galaxy turns out to be able to trap light even up to seven years. It was revealed through Education created by a group of astronomers from the University of Valencia.
Citing Universe Today, astronomers spent 14 years measuring the delay between photos of their target quasar. According to KBBI, quasars are celestial bodies that emit radio waves.
The delay was apparently caused by the galaxy cluster SDSS J1004 + 4112. There, galaxies and dark matter literally “catch” light from the quasar as it passes through.
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Consequently, this causes light to travel through different trajectories through the gravitational lens. As a result, there is a strange kind of delay effect.
“The four photos of the quasars we observed actually responded to a single quasar whose light was bent on its way to us due to the gravitational field of the cluster of galaxies,” said Professor Jose Antonio Munoz Lozano of the Department. of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the University of Valenzano.
“Since the trajectories that the light waves follow to form each photo are different, we observed them at different times. In this case, we had to wait 6.73 years before the signal we saw in the first photo was reproduced in the fourth photo. ” He added.
Clusters of galaxies are the largest known gravitationally bound structures in the universe. Some of these clusters contain thousands of galaxies which, together with the dark matter present, can bind light from afar as it passes through them.
Also, the masses of the objects in the cluster are scattered randomly. As a result, the path of light passing through them is also affected.
Astronomers need available data on the distribution of this material, including dark matter. The reason will help astronomers understand how these objects affect the path of light from distant quasars.
“Measuring the timing of this delay can help understand the properties of galaxies, galaxy clusters, their masses and their distribution,” Lozano said.
Observing for 14.5 years, Lozano and his team collaborated with scientists from Ohio State University in the United States. They worked through a 1.2 meter long telescope located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO).
According to Raquel Fores Toribio, observational data also helps scientists understand the character of the cluster that acts as a lens.
“In particular, it is possible to contain the regional distribution of dark matter within the cluster because the lens effect is very sensitive not only to the original matter but also to the dark one,” said Toribio.
(lesimo / lesimo)
