X-ray photo by Chandra X-ray Observatory. Exposure time was 140 hours. The scale is shown in megaparsecs. Redshift (z) = 0.3, meaning its light has wavelengths stretched by a factor of 1.3.
The object is of a particular note for astrophysicists, because gravitational lensing studies of the Bullet Cluster are claimed to provide strong evidence for the existence of dark matter.[3][4]
Observations of other galaxy cluster collisions, such as MACS J0025.4-1222, similarly support the existence of dark matter.[5]
^M. Markevitch; A. H. Gonzalez; D. Clowe; A. Vikhlinin; L. David; W. Forman; C. Jones; S. Murray & W. Tucker (2004). "Direct constraints on the dark matter self-interaction cross-section from the merging galaxy cluster 1E0657-56". Astrophys. J. 606 (2): 819–824. arXiv:astro-ph/0309303. Bibcode:2004ApJ...606..819M. doi:10.1086/383178. S2CID119334056.
^Brada, M; Allen, S. W; Ebeling, H; Massey, R; Morris, R. G; von der Linden, A; Applegate, D (2008). "Revealing the Properties of Dark Matter in the Merging Cluster MACS J0025.4-1222". The Astrophysical Journal. 687 (2): 959. arXiv:0806.2320. Bibcode:2008ApJ...687..959B. doi:10.1086/591246. S2CID14563896.