Galaxies on the Brink of Collision: Stunning Space Photo of the Week from the Virgo Cluster

What it is: The Antlia Cluster, or Abell S636, is a group of galaxies.

Where it is: It’s located about 130 million light-years away in the constellation Antlia, which means “Air Pump.”

What’s special about it: Scientists recently took an amazing image of this galaxy cluster using a powerful telescope in Chile. The Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, armed with a sensitive Dark Energy Camera (DECam), aimed at the Antlia Cluster to help uncover the secrets of dark matter.

This new image is a breakthrough for understanding dark matter, a mysterious substance that makes up around 25% of the universe. It’s made of particles that don’t emit or reflect light, making them invisible to our instruments. We can only see its effects through gravity.

The image showcases two prominent galaxies: NGC 3268, positioned at the center, and NGC 3258, located in the lower right. Both are massive lenticular galaxies with a bulge in their center, similar to our Milky Way, but they lack spiral arms and are not currently forming new stars.

Interestingly, research suggests that NGC 3268 and NGC 3258 might be merging, hinting that the Antlia Cluster could have originated from two separate clusters.

What excites astronomers the most is the unique variety of galaxies in the Antlia Cluster. Advances in technology have allowed them to spot not just lenticular galaxies but also irregular galaxies, dwarf galaxies, and more compact types. Some lesser-known galaxies might also be hiding there, likely rich in dark matter.

Understanding dark matter is crucial because, even though we can’t see it directly, its gravitational influence shapes the universe and affects how galaxies interact.

The DECam, an incredible 570-megapixel camera, was built by the U.S. Department of Energy and is located at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a part of the National Science Foundation’s research facilities in Chile.