‘El Gordo,’ Galaxy With Mass 2 Quadrillion Times The Sun’s, Discovered

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Take the number 2. Put 15 zeroes behind it, as Space.com says:

2,000,000,000,000,000

Now, think about the news from this story at that website:

The discovery of “the largest cluster of galaxies seen yet in the early universe, a giant that astronomers have dubbed ‘El Gordo,’ ” has been announced at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas.

And just how big is El Gordo thought to be? It “has mass about 2 quadrillion … times that of the sun, making it ‘the most massive known cluster in the distant universe.’ “

El Gordo is about 7 billion light-years from us. Scientists hope its discovery will help shed some light, as Space.com says, on “dark energy” and “dark matter.” And, as the BBC says, it’s possible El Gordo will help us figure out how galaxy clusters “form, grow and collide with one another.”

(via NPR) (LISTEN)