Galaxy clusters consist of countless galaxies of any ages, sizes and shapes.

Normally, they have a mass of about one million billion times the mass of the Sun.

At one moment galaxy clusters were thought to be the biggest structures in deep space– up until they were taken over in the 1980s by the discovery of superclusters, which generally include lots of galaxy clusters and groups and period numerous countless light-years.

Clusters do have one thing to stick on to; superclusters are not held together by gravity, so galaxy clusters still keep the title of the greatest structures in the Universe bound by gravity.

“The histories of galaxy clusters not just assist us comprehend how deep space formed, however they likewise supply restrictions on the homes of dark matter,” Brown University astronomer Anthony Englert and his associates stated in a declaration.

One hint the astronomers search for to comprehend the history of a galaxy cluster is intracluster light– the faint radiance released by stars that have actually been removed from their initial galaxies by the tremendous gravity of a forming galaxy cluster.

These stars function as whispering proof of previous stellar interactions, though many existing telescopes and video cameras battle to catch them.

The fragile intracluster light of galaxy cluster Abell 3667 shines plainly in the brand-new image put together from an overall of 28 hours of observations with the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on NSF’s Víctor M. Blanco 4-m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a program of NSF’s NOIRLab.

“Abell 3667 is more than 700 million light-years far from us,” the astronomers stated.

“The terrific bulk of faint sources of light in this image are extremely far-off galaxies, and not foreground stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy.”

“Within Abell 3667, 2 smaller sized galaxy clusters are actively combining together, evidenced by the radiant bridge (yellow) of stars extending throughout the center of this image.”

“This bridge links the hearts of the 2 galaxy clusters, referred to as their brightest cluster galaxies, and forms out of product removed from the galaxies as they combine to form one enormous corporation.”

“Not just is this sequined sky filled with distant galaxies, however faint foreground functions are likewise brightened from its long direct exposure time.”

“Milky Way cirrus, or incorporated flux nebulae, are faint, wispy clouds of interstellar dust that can be viewed as faint bluish hairs criss-crossing the image.”

“These cirrus are spots of dust lit up by the combined light of stars within our own Galaxy.”

“They look like scattered, filamentary structures that can cover big locations of the sky.”

The findings appear in the Astrophysical Journal Letters

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Anthony M. Englert et al2025. The Intracluster Light of Abell 3667: Unveiling an Optical Bridge in LSST Precursor Data. ApJL 989, L2; doi: 10.3847/ 2041-8213/ ade8f1