Ronaldo Laishram led a team of researchers in discovering a massive structure of young galaxies dating back nearly 12.6 billion years, offering new insights into galaxy formation in the early Universe.
Published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the discovery identified a giant protocluster named the Loktak Protocluster after Loktak Lake. A protocluster represents an early-stage galaxy cluster or a “city of galaxies” forming under gravitational influence.
Researchers found that the structure existed when the Universe was only around 1.2 billion years old and consisted of four interconnected concentrations of galaxies evolving together. The structure was compared to the floating phumdis of Loktak Lake, and the naming was described as a tribute to Manipur.
APSC Relevance: Space science, astrophysics and contributions of Northeast Indian scientists.
Course Purchase Query 