WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Observations by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory are providing fresh evidence that the universe grew up a lot more quickly than previously known, with observations of a galaxy cluster forming sooner after the Big Bang than once thought possible.Researchers said these observations show an emerging galaxy cluster containing at least 66 potential member galaxies, with a total cluster mass of about 20 trillion stars the size of our sun, dating to about one billion years after the Big Bang event that initiated the universe roughly 13.8 billion years ago.Galaxy clusters are among the largest structures in the cosmos and were thought to have needed much more time to come together in the early universe. Our Milky Way is part of a galaxy cluster.AdvertisementAdvertisement”A galaxy cluster is, as the name suggests, an assembly of galaxies, typically hundreds to several thousands. These galaxies are embedded in a halo of hot gas heated to millions of degrees, and the whole system is bound together by dark matter,” said astrophysicist Akos Bogdan of the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature.Dark matter, which does not emit or reflect light, represents about 85% of the universe’s matter. Ordinary matter – like stars, planets and everything else that is visible – accounts for the rest. Scientists infer the existence of dark matter based on the gravitational effects it exerts on a large scale such as how galaxy clusters are held together.Spotting a nascent galaxy cluster that was beginning to reach maturity when the universe was roughly 7% its current age wa …
