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China reports biggest catalog of galaxy clusters

China reports biggest catalog of galaxy clusters

Updated: 2012-04-02 01:43

(Xinhua)

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BEIJING - Chinese astronomers said on Sunday that they had finished a new catalog with over 130,000 galaxy clusters.

Galaxy clusters are known as the largest gravitationally bound objects in the universe.

The previously biggest catalog, which contains 69,173 clusters, was published in 2011 by American scientists.

The new 132,684-cluster catalog was also identified from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data, according to a Sunday statement from the National Astronomical Observatories (NAO) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The discovery of more clusters would contribute to the researches on dark matter and large scale structure of the universe, said the NAO statement.

It also noted that the finding has been published on the latest issue of the Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series (ApJS).