A map of plasma motions in the Perseus and Coma galaxy clusters
An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophyiscs” reports the mapping of the distribution and motion of hot gas within the Perseus and Coma galaxy clusters. A team of researchers led by Jeremy Sanders of the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial physics in Garching, Germany, used in particular ESA’s XMM-Newton space telescope to study those two large clusters and detect the gas that, at very high temperatures and in the form of a plasma, shines at X-rays. This mapping offers new information on the formation and evolution of galaxy clusters.
