Studying the Biggest Objects in the Universe Undergoing the Biggest Collisions in the Universe with the World’s Biggest (moveable) Telescope
By: Mark Devlin (University of Pennsylvania)
Clusters of Galaxies are the largest gravitationally-bound objects in the Universe. They form via mergers with energetics that are only rivaled by the Big Bang. The study of these objects and collisions can reveal the complex processes that govern the interactions. Observations at 90 GHz with the MUSTANG instrument on the GBT provide high (9”) resolution of the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect inside the clusters. Initial observations with the MUSTANG instrument have yielded very promising observations of a few clusters. We are now in the midst of an upgrade which will allow us to observe hundreds of clusters (assuming we can keep the GBT open!!!!).
