Discovery of a giant blob of ionized hydrogen in a galaxy cluster of the distant Universe
An international team led by researchers from the “Service d'Astrophysique / Laboratoire AIM” of CEA-IRFU has discovered a giant nebula of ionized gas in the central region of the distant galaxy cluster CL J1449+0856. Extending over 300,000 light-years, this nebula was detected from an emission line of hydrogen, arising from a gigantic reservoir of warm gas probably ionized by two luminous quasars of the cluster.