Monster "El Gordo" Galaxy Cluster is Bigger than Thought

Chandra_565_1024

chandra_565 April 3rd, 2014

Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Jee (Univ. of California, Davis), J. Hughes (Rutgers Univ.), F. Menanteau (Rutgers Univ. & Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), C. Sifon (Leiden Obs.), R. Mandelbum (Carnegie Mellon Univ.), L. Barrientos (Univ. Catolica de Chile), and K. Ng (Univ. of California, Davis)

When scientists first discovered this galaxy cluster in 2012 with Chandra and ground-based optical telescopes, they nicknamed it "El Gordo" (the "fat one" in Spanish) because of its gigantic mass. New data from Hubble suggest it may weigh 43 percent more - about 3 million billion Suns -- than the original estimate based on the X-ray data and dynamical studies. This composite image of El Gordo contains X-rays from Chandra (pink), a map of where the dark matter is found determined by gravitational lensing (blue), and the individual galaxies in the cluster and stars in the field of view as observed by Hubble.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2014/elgordo/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html

Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
ACT J0102-4915 El Gordo
Subject - Distant Universe
Galaxy > Grouping > Cluster

Distance Details Distance

Universescale3
7,166,000,000 light years
Chandra_565_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 1h 2m 55.3s
DEC = -49° 15’ 18.3”
Orientation
North is 50.2° CW
Field of View
5.3 x 3.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Phoenix

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) 826.7 pm
Blue Hubble (ACS/WFC) Optical (R-band) 625.0 nm
Green Hubble (ACS/WFC) Optical (I-band) 774.0 nm
Red Hubble (ACS/WFC) Optical (Z-band) 850.0 nm
Blue data is derived mass.
Spectrum_xray1
Red
Blue
Green
Red
Chandra_565_1280
×
ID
565
Subject Category
D.5.5.3  
Subject Name
ACT J0102-4915, El Gordo
Credits
NASA, ESA, J. Jee (Univ. of California, Davis), J. Hughes (Rutgers Univ.), F. Menanteau (Rutgers Univ. & Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), C. Sifon (Leiden Obs.), R. Mandelbum (Carnegie Mellon Univ.), L. Barrientos (Univ. Catolica de Chile), and K. Ng (Univ. of California, Davis)
Release Date
2014-04-03
Lightyears
7,166,000,000
Redshift
0.87
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2014/elgordo/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Chandra, Hubble, Hubble, Hubble
Instrument
ACIS, ACS/WFC, ACS/WFC, ACS/WFC
Color Assignment
Red, Blue, Green, Red
Band
X-ray, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
X-ray, R-band, I-band, Z-band
Central Wavelength
0.8267, 625, 774, 850
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
B
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
15.7305633, -49.2550899
Reference Dimension
3600.0, 2182.0
Reference Pixel
1801.0, 1092.0
Scale
2.46267e-05, 2.4626652e-05
Rotation
-50.23
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
WCS retrieved using CXCs PinpointWCS
Creator (Curator)
Chandra X-ray Observatory
URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu
Name
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Email
cxcpub@cfa.harvard.edu
Telephone
617.496.7941
Address
60 Garden St.
City
Cambridge
State/Province
MA
Postal Code
02138
Country
USA
Rights
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
Publisher
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
elgordo.tif
Metadata Date
2014-04-03T14:57:03-04:00
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
7,166,000,000 light years

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