Solitary Galaxy Baffles Astronomers

Astronomers have discovered a distant and unusually lonely galaxy, 3C 297, which appears to have assimilated its former companion galaxies, challenging current understanding of galaxy and galaxy cluster formation. The galaxy may be the most distant "fossil group" ever discovered, where one galaxy has absorbed its former companions. The discovery was made using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the International Gemini Observatory. The galaxy contains a quasar, a supermassive black hole pulling in gas at the center of the galaxy and driving powerful jets of matter seen in radio waves.