Abstract
Photometric studies of distant clusters of galaxies provide evidence for significant evolution of the member galaxies during the relatively recent cosmological past1–5. Here, spectroscopy is presented that confirms a previous photometric result that the distant (z = 0.38) cluster C11447+2619 contains the largest excess of blue galaxies yet encountered. The galaxy surface density profile of the cluster shows it to be open and irregular, making it the first such cluster to be studied at high redshift. The spectra indicate that the blue colours are predominantly the result of recent star formation. We speculate that vigorous star formation in galaxies, independently of their environments, was much more common several Gyr ago than it is in the Universe today.
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Butcher, H., Oemler, A. Nature of blue galaxies in the cluster C11447 + 2619. Nature 310, 31–33 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/310031a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/310031a0
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