Monster galactic cluster seen in deep Universe: European agency

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — An orbiting observatory has spotted a massive cluster of galaxies in deep space that can only be explained by the exotic phenomenon known as dark energy, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Monday.

Spotted in a scan by ESA's orbiting X-ray telescope XMM-Newton, the cluster's mass is about 1,000 times that of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, it said.

The huge cluster, known by its catalogue number of 2XMM J083026 524133, lies 7.7 billion light years from Earth and helps confirm the existence of dark energy, the agency said.

Under this hypothesis, most of the Universe comprises "dark energy", an enigmatic force that is causing the expansion of the cosmos to accelerate.

The outward drive of dark energy is such that, in more recent times,...