JWST Identifies Cooling Gas in Phoenix Cluster, Unlocking Star Formation Process



Observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed lacking cooling fuel within the Phoenix Cluster, a galaxy cluster positioned five.Eight billion light-years away. The discovery affords insights into how stars form no matter the presence of a supermassive black hole at its center. Researchers have confirmed that the cluster contains the biggest regarded reservoir of hot gasoline cooling at different prices.

JWST's Role in Identifying the Missing Cooling Gas According to a study published in Nature, facts from JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) has allowed researchers to locate gasoline cooling at 540,000 degrees Fahrenheit (three hundred,000 levels Celsius). This fuel turned into located trapped in cavities inside the cluster, an area formerly unobservable. Michael McDonald, an astrophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and primary investigator of the look at, told Space.Com that earlier studies failed to detect this gasoline because handiest the acute temperature ends of the spectrum have been measurable.