Abstract
It has been suspected for nearly 50 years that galaxy clusters contain a population of intergalactic stars ripped from the galaxies during cluster formation, or when the galactic orbits pass through the cluster centre1,2,3. Observational support for theexistence of such a stellar population is provided both by measurements of the diffuse light in clusters4,5,6,7,8,9, and by the recent detection of planetary nebulae with positions or velocities far removed from any observable cluster galaxy10,11. But estimates for the mass of the diffuse population and its distribution relative to the cluster galaxies are still highly uncertain. Here we report the direct detection of intergalactic stars in deep images of a blank field in the Virgo cluster. The data suggest that these stars form approximately one-tenth of the total stellar mass of the cluster. We observe a relatively homogeneous distribution of stars, with evidence of a slight gradient towards M87.
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Acknowledgements
We thank S. Sakai, R. Soria and C. Grillmair for providing stellar photometry from nearby galaxies for comparison to the Virgo Cluster data; M. Dickinson for the use of the 3C210 comparison field; to A. Fruchter and R. Hook for use of the ‘drizzle’ code; V. Rubin, F. Schweizer and A.Saha for discussions; and the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism for hospitality (T.v.H.). T.v.H. was partially supported by the Edgar P. and Nona B. McKinney Charitable Trust. This work was also supported by NASA through a General Observer research grant awarded by Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.
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Ferguson, H., Tanvir, N. & von Hippel, T. Detection of intergalactic red-giant-branch stars in the Virgo cluster. Nature 391, 461–463 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/35087
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35087
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