
Detailed, high-resolution images of the Phoenix Cluster let astronomers see the galaxy cluster forming stars in its center despite the presence of a supermassive black hole. (Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/M.McDonald et al; Radio: NRAO/AUI/NSF; Optical: NASA/STScI)
For the first time, astronomers have spotted active bursts of stars forming in a galaxy at the center of a dense cluster. In galaxy clusters, supermassive black holes in the central galaxies typically heat up gases, keeping them from condensing into new stars.