What it is: Bullet Cluster
Where it is: 3.7 billion light years from Earth, in Karina, the constellation of the constellation.
When shared: June 30, 2025
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Why is it so special: Galaxy Clusters act as magnifying lenses, shining light on the faintest and most distant objects, known as gravitational lenses. The rarest opportunity involves collisions with Galaxy Clusters creating even larger lenses. James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) recently provided a very detailed observation of such a lens, the Bullet Cluster.
Located approximately 3.7 billion light years from Earth in the constellation Carina, the bullet cluster is the aftermath of a collision between two galactic clusters estimated to have started about 150 million years ago. Each of the two galactic clusters can be distinguished within the blue region, but are bound by gravity and together form a single entity, or bullet cluster.
Gravity lenses bring distant, faint objects to light, but the extent of the lens can reveal mass distributions within large foreground galaxy clusters. Mystical dark matter constitutes a huge portion of the galaxy cluster, but is difficult to find because it does not reflect, absorb or emit light. Therefore, astronomers may study light from stars within galaxy clusters but not part of the galaxy. These stars are called stars in clusters and float as they are peeled off from the galaxy during their collisions. By analyzing the light from these stars, researchers can track the distribution of dark matter. This is because these stars are gravity coupled to the dark matter of the cluster.
Related: James Webb Telescope discovers a galaxy of tentacles “jellyfish” that travels through deep spaces
The latest data from JWST was combined with data from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, allowing astronomers to create accurate maps of both visible masses within bullet clusters. Light from the stars in the cluster fixed the position of invisible material, and X-rays confirmed the position of hot gas. Based on these observations, astronomers were able to “regenerate” the collision. This revealed that hot gas (bright pink) was drawn from the galaxy clusters and left in the central region, but the dark matter (blue) associated with the individual galaxy clusters remained intact and not dragged.
This stunning image, a combination of near-infrared data from JWST and X-ray data from Chandra, reveals previously unknown lines of mass and extended mass. These new structures could be a signature of a chaotic history, suggesting that bullet clusters could have suffered from several conflicts over billions of years. The large cluster on the left may have had separate interactions before and after collision with the small cluster on the right.
This fantastic image only covers some of the aftermath of the collision. In the future, near-infrared images of a wide area taken with NASA’s Nancy Gray Sloman Space Telescope can provide a complete picture of the bullet cluster by removing the spectacular photos and unraveling the mystery.
For sublime space images, see Space Photos in this week’s archives.
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