Most Massive Structures News Today

Galaxy clusters are the most massive, gravitationally bound systems in the universe. When two galaxy clusters collide, theories predict that their first contact

Arnab Sarkar, a graduate student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Kentucky, will present data and photos that verify, for the very first time, the existence of a shock wave formed early in the merger process between two galaxy clusters.

Valeria Olivares, a postdoc in the UK Department of Physics and Astronomy, will discuss results from her project, which used images from NASA’s space-based X-ray observatory, Chandra, to study the activity of black holes at the center of galaxy clusters. Arnab Sarkar, a graduate student in the department, will present his team's discovery of an axial shock between two merging galaxy clusters.