Cosmic archaeology

Esahubble_potw1743a_1024

esahubble_potw1743a October 23rd, 2017

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is chock-full of galaxies each glowing speck is a different galaxy, bar the bright flash in the middle of the image which is actually a star lying within our own galaxy that just happened to be in the way. At the centre of the image lies something especially interesting, the centre of the massive galaxy cluster called WHL J24.3324-8.477, including the brightest galaxy of the cluster. The Universe contains structures on various scales planets collect around stars, stars collect into galaxies, galaxies collect into groups, and galaxy groups collect into clusters. Galaxy clusters contain hundreds to thousands of galaxies bound together by gravity. Dark matter and dark energy play key roles in the formation and evolution of these clusters, so studying massive galaxy clusters can help scientists to unravel the mysteries of these elusive phenomena. This infrared image was taken by Hubbles Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide-Field Camera 3 as part of an observing programme called RELICS (Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey). RELICS imaged 41 massive galaxy clusters with the aim of finding the brightest distant galaxies for the forthcoming NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to study. Such research will tell us more about our cosmic origins.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1743a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
WHL J24.3324-8.477
Subject - Distant Universe
Star > Grouping > Cluster
Esahubble_potw1743a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 1h 37m 25.2s
DEC = -8° 27’ 24.2”
Orientation
North is 29.8° CCW
Field of View
3.4 x 3.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Cetus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (B) 435.0 nm
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Red Hubble (ACS) Optical (I) 814.0 nm
Red Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (H) 1.6 µm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Blue
Green
Red
Red
Esahubble_potw1743a_1280
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ID
potw1743a
Subject Category
D.3.6.4  
Subject Name
WHL J24.3324-8.477
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release Date
2017-10-23T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1743a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS, ACS, ACS, WFC3
Color Assignment
Blue, Blue, Green, Red, Red
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Infrared
Bandpass
B, V, V, I, H
Central Wavelength
435, 606, 606, 814, 1600
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
24.3548208757, -8.45671696132
Reference Dimension
6879.0, 6479.0
Reference Pixel
3439.5, 3239.5
Scale
-8.32904540221e-06, 8.32904540221e-06
Rotation
29.82
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
potw1743a
Metadata Date
2017-06-09T14:36:58+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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