Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

The Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect towards three clusters of galaxies

Abstract

An unequivocal detection of the Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect1, the cooling of the brightness temperature of the microwave background radiation towards the atmospheres of clusters of galaxies, has profound cosmological significance2–6, but has hitherto proved elusive. We present here measurements of the effect towards three rich clusters of galaxies made with the 40-m telescope of the Owens Valley Radio Observatory at 20.3 GHz. These results are three times more sensitive than other results previously reported7–9, are free from systematic errors at the 100 µK level, and provide very strong evidence for the reality of the Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Sunyaev, R. A. & Zeldovich, Ya. B. Commts. Astrophys. Space Phys. 4, 173–178 (1972).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Gunn, J. E., Observational Cosmology (eds Maeder, L. & Tammann, G.) 62 (Geneva Observatory, 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  3. White, S. D. M. & Silk, J. I. Astrophys. J. Lett. 226, L103–106 (1978).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Birkinshaw, M. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 187, 847–862 (1979).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Fabbri, R., Melchiorri, F., Mencaraglia, F. & Natale, V. Astr. Astrophys. 74, L20–24 (1979).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Cavaliere, A., Danese, L. & De Zotti, G. Astr. Astrophys. 75, 322–325 (1979).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Birkinshaw, M. Clustering in the Universe (eds Gerbal, D. & Mazure, A.) 265 (Editions Frontières, Paris, 1983).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Meyer, S. A., Jeffries, A. D. & Weiss, R. Astrophys. J. Lett. 271, L1–4 (1983).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Andernach, H., Schallwich, D., Sholomitski, S. & Wielebinski, R. Astr. Astrophys. 124, 326–330 (1983).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Birkinshaw, M. & Gull, S. F. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 206, 359–375 (1984).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Lake, G. & Partridge, R. B. Astrophys. J. 237, 378–389 (1980).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Birkinshaw, M., Gull, S. F. & Northover, K. J. E. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 197, 571–592 (1981).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Birkinshaw, M., Gull, S. F. & Moffet, A. T. Astrophys. J. Lett. 251, L69–73 (1981).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Birkinshaw, M., Gull, S. & Hardebeck, H. The Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect towards three clusters of galaxies. Nature 309, 34–35 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/309034a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/309034a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing