--- title: "Galaxy Clusters in the Early Universe?" description: "[caption id=\"attachment_25400\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"532\"] Image Credit: NASA[/caption] 10-billion light years away, scientists have found something rare; a galaxy cluster. A galaxy cluster itself is not a weird object. Our own Milky Way is part of a large galaxy cluster called the ‘Local Group.’ These types of clusters are very common (and they can get much larger)...." date: "2014-06-25" modified: "2014-06-25" authors: - name: "Joshua Filmer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/joshuafqtq" url: "https://futurism.com/galaxy-clusters-in-the-early-universe" categories: - "From Quarks to Quasars" --- # Galaxy Clusters in the Early Universe? ![]() [![Image Credit: NASA]()]() *Image Credit: NASA* 10-billion light years away, [scientists have found]() something rare; a galaxy cluster. A galaxy cluster itself is not a weird object. Our own Milky Way is part of a large galaxy cluster called the ‘Local Group.’ These types of clusters are very common (and they can get much larger). Basically, a galaxy cluster is a group of galaxies that are bound to each other gravitationally; because of this, galaxy clusters are the largest objects in the universe. So, what is so rare about this one? It formed only about 3 billion years after the big bang. On a galactic timescale, that is fast. Really fast. If finding this cluster wasn’t weird enough; visible in the picture is a galaxy behind this cluster that has undergone gravitational lensing. For an object that far away to be lensed (to a visible degree), it needs to be really bright; making this particular pair of objects, an astrophysicist's golden egg. I mean, it's a very bright and a very young galaxy cluster, that's pretty cool. Scientists are excited to look for and study these objects further. This may eventually lead them to a better understanding about the conditions of the universe shortly after the big bang. ## Author Joshua specializes in Mathematics and Physics at Portland State University.