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| MACS J1149.5+2223 | |
|---|---|
| Name | MACS J1149.5+2223 |
| Epoch | J2000 |
| Constellation | Leo |
| Redshift | 0.544 |
| Distance | 5.4 billion ly |
| Mass | ~10^15 M☉ |
| Other names | MACS J1149 |
MACS J1149.5+2223 is a massive galaxy cluster located in the constellation Leo notable for strong gravitational lensing and deep astronomical follow-up; it has been a focus of observational campaigns by Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and ground-based facilities such as Keck Observatory and Very Large Telescope. The cluster's lensing properties produced multiple images of background sources including the multiply imaged spiral galaxy that hosted Supernova Refsdal, leading to coordinated programs by the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble and the Frontier Fields. MACS J1149.5+2223 is a key target in studies involving dark matter, gravitational lensing, and high-redshift galaxy formation.
MACS J1149.5+2223 is part of the MAssive Cluster Survey sample and lies at a redshift of z ≈ 0.544, making it a high-mass system comparable to clusters like Abell 1689 and Coma Cluster. Its discovery and characterization leveraged facilities including Hubble Space Telescope, Subaru Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, XMM-Newton, Keck Observatory, and Very Large Telescope, and analyses have referenced models from groups at institutions such as Harvard University, Stanford University, Space Telescope Science Institute, and European Southern Observatory. The cluster's baryonic and non-baryonic components have been mapped using techniques developed by researchers affiliated with Max Planck Society, California Institute of Technology, and University of Cambridge.
MACS J1149.5+2223 was identified in the MAssive Cluster Survey using ROSAT X-ray catalogs and optical follow-up with surveys like Sloan Digital Sky Survey and imaging from Hubble Space Telescope. Subsequent deep imaging campaigns under the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble and the Hubble Frontier Fields produced high-resolution data exploited by teams from University of California, Santa Cruz, Johns Hopkins University, University of Toronto, University of Oxford, and University of Arizona. Spectroscopic confirmations used instruments on Keck Observatory and Very Large Telescope, while complementary millimeter observations were performed with Atacama Large Millimeter Array and Submillimeter Array.
The cluster exhibits prominent strong lensing including giant arcs and multiple-image systems analogous to those found in Einstein Cross and SDSS J1004+4112, with lens models produced by groups using software packages developed at NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, and Kavli Institute for Cosmology. Lensing reconstructions reference techniques from authors at University of California, Berkeley, Princeton University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and compare mass maps to those of clusters like Bullet Cluster and Abell 2218. The multiply imaged spiral galaxy responsible for Supernova Refsdal produced several time-delayed images, enabling model-independent tests of lens prediction frameworks used by research teams at University of Michigan, Rutgers University, and National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
Mass modeling shows MACS J1149.5+2223 possesses a total mass on the order of 10^15 solar masses, with a dark matter-dominated potential similar to results for Bullet Cluster and El Gordo. Analyses integrating strong lensing, weak lensing, and stellar kinematics were performed by groups at University College London, University of California, Irvine, and Observatoire de Paris, and relied on parameterizations from Navarro–Frenk–White profile studies and simulations by teams at Institute for Computational Cosmology and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The intracluster medium properties informed by Chandra X-ray Observatory place constraints on baryon fraction comparisons to measurements from Planck (spacecraft), Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, and cosmological hydrodynamic simulations by Illustris and EAGLE collaborations.
The cluster lens unveiled a rich set of background galaxies including high-redshift candidates comparable to sources studied in Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, GOODS, and COSMOS. The most famous event, Supernova Refsdal, was discovered as multiple images in the lensed spiral and monitored by teams from Space Telescope Science Institute, University of California, and Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics; predicted reappearance dates tested mass models from groups at University of Pennsylvania, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, and University of Tokyo. Follow-up spectroscopy used Keck Observatory and VLT instruments and compared host galaxy properties with samples from CANDELS and Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
X-ray observations with Chandra X-ray Observatory and XMM-Newton reveal hot intracluster gas at temperatures and luminosities typical of massive merger systems, informing comparisons with clusters observed by ROSAT and modeled by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center researchers. Radio studies using Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, and Low-Frequency Array probe diffuse emission analogous to radio halos found in Perseus Cluster and Coma Cluster, and link to particle acceleration scenarios developed by teams at Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.
MACS J1149.5+2223 serves as a laboratory for testing Lambda-CDM predictions, dark matter substructure, and time-delay cosmography methods drawing on expertise from Planck Collaboration, Dark Energy Survey, Supernova Cosmology Project, and Sloan Digital Sky Survey collaborations. The cluster's lensing constraints contributed to measurements of the Hubble constant alongside other probes like Type Ia supernovae, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations, and Cosmic Microwave Background analyses by Planck (spacecraft) and WMAP. Ongoing work by investigators at University of Cambridge, Harvard University, Stanford University, Caltech, and international consortia continues to exploit this cluster for studies of structure formation, dark matter physics, and high-redshift galaxy evolution.