What component fills the space in galaxy clusters and glows brightly in X-rays?
Answer
Intracluster medium (hot gas)
Galaxy clusters are complex, bound systems containing not only hundreds or thousands of galaxies but also significant quantities of hot gas, known as the intracluster medium. This superheated plasma is a crucial constituent of the cluster's mass and energy content. The high temperature of this gas causes it to emit strongly across the electromagnetic spectrum, particularly in the X-ray band. Detecting this X-ray emission is one of the primary observational techniques astronomers use to confirm the presence and map the extent of these massive cosmic structures.
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How Many Galaxy Clusters Are There? - Physics Frontier - YouTube
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