Surgical Fellowship CommendedThe Surgical Critical Care Fellowship program wins commendation. Read more
Biomed ExpansionManoa breaks ground for the expanded Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education facility. Read more
Nursing PartnershipsManoa’s nursing school forms partnerships to increase neonatal and veteran care. Read more
Indigenous Education SupportCenter for Native Hawaiian and Indigenous Education receives $375,000 for curriculum development and research. Read moreOkinawan Studies EndowmentThe Worldwide Uchinanchu Business Association supports Manoa’s Center for Okinawan Studies. Read more
UH EventsKaua'i and Maui’s reading celebrations and Manoa, Leeward and Windward’s Earth Day celebrations. Read more
Galaxy cluster MACSJ0717.5+3745. Credit NASA/CXC/IfA/C. Ma et al.
Cosmic Heavyweights
Researchers including Manoa graduate student Cheng-Jiun Ma and Astronomer Harald Ebeling were able to determine the three-dimensional geometry and motion in the system MACSJ0717.5+3745 (or MACSJ0717 for short) located about 5.4 billion light years from Earth using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea. The study appeared in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The researchers found that four separate galaxy clusters are involved in a triple merger, the first time such a phenomenon has been documented. Galaxy clusters are the largest objects bound by gravity in the Universe.
In MACSJ0717, a 13-million-light-year-long stream of galaxies, gas and dark matter—known as a filament—is pouring into a region already full of matter. Like a freeway of cars emptying into a full parking lot, this flow of galaxies has caused one collision after another.
"In addition to this enormous pileup, MACSJ0717 is also remarkable because of its temperature," says Ma, lead author of the study. "Since each of these collisions releases energy in the form of heat, MACS0717 has one of the highest temperatures ever seen in such a system."
Read more.