'Pandora's Cluster' Seen by Spitzer

Spitzer_sig16-18_1024

spitzer_sig16-18 September 28th, 2016

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This image of galaxy cluster Abell 2744, also called Pandora's Cluster, was taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The gravity of this galaxy cluster is strong enough that it acts as a lens to magnify images of more distant background galaxies. This technique is called gravitational lensing.

The fuzzy blobs in this Spitzer image are the massive galaxies at the core of this cluster, but astronomers will be poring over the images in search of the faint streaks of light created where the cluster magnifies a distant background galaxy.

The cluster is also being studied by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-Ray Observatory in a collaboration called the Frontier Fields project.

In this image, light from Spitzer's infrared channels is colored blue at 3.6 microns and green at 4.5 microns.

Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope

Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/6249-sig16-18--Pandora-s-Cluster-Seen-by-Spitzer

Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA

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Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Abell 2744 Pandora's Cluster
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Grouping > Cluster

Distance

Universescale2
3,500,000 light years
Spitzer_sig16-18_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 0h 14m 14.0s
DEC = -30° 23’ 18.8”
Orientation
North is 53.7° CW
Field of View
12.4 x 6.9 arcminutes
Constellation
Sculptor
Spitzer_sig16-18_1280
×
ID
sig16-18
Subject Category
C.5.5.3  
Subject Name
Abell 2744, Pandora's Cluster
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Release Date
2016-09-28
Lightyears
3,500,000
Redshift
0.30800
Reference Url
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/6249-sig16-18--Pandora-s-Cluster-Seen-by-Spitzer
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Instrument
Color Assignment
Band
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
Start Time
2004-11-27T01:14
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
3.5582158, -30.3885567
Reference Dimension
1233.0, 693.0
Reference Pixel
617.5, 347.5
Scale
-0.000167002, 0.00016700241
Rotation
-53.68
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
WCS retrieved using CXCs PinpointWCS
Creator (Curator)
Spitzer Space Telescope
URL
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
1200 E. California Blvd.
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
91125
Country
USA
Rights
Publisher
Spitzer Science Center
Publisher ID
spitzer
Resource ID
sig16-18.tif
Metadata Date
2016-09-28
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
3,500,000 light years

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