Galaxy disruption as the origin of intracluster light in the Coma cluster of galaxies

Michael D. Gregg () and Michael J. West
Additional contact information
Michael D. Gregg: University of California
Michael J. West: Saint Mary's University

Nature, 1998, vol. 396, issue 6711, 549-552

Abstract: Abstract Although the existence of a faint background of starlight in the core of the Coma cluster has been well established1,2, its origin is uncertain. This vast sea of stars could have formed outside the galaxies, using gas left over from the time of the cluster's birth. Alternatively, it might be the accumulated debris generated by interactions between the galaxies over the lifetime of the cluster3. Here we report the discovery of three large, low-surface-brightness features in the Coma cluster, the most spectacular of which is a plume-like structure, 130 kpc long, in the cluster's heart. These structures will disperse over the next one to two billion years, thereby enhancing the general background light. If this epoch is typical, we argue that a significant fraction — perhaps even most — of the intracluster light results from a steady accumulation of tidal debris generated during galaxy–galaxy and galaxy–cluster interactions.

Date: 1998
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/25078 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:396:y:1998:i:6711:d:10.1038_25078

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/25078

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().