A colossal cluster

Esahubble_potw1815a_1024

esahubble_potw1815a April 9th, 2018

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, RELICS

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a massive galaxy cluster glowing brightly in the darkness. Despite its beauty, this cluster bears the distinctly unpoetic name of PLCK_G308.3-20.2. Galaxy clusters can contain thousands of galaxies all held together by the glue of gravity. At one point in time they were believed to be the largest structures in the Universe until they were usurped in the 1980s by the discovery of superclusters, which typically contain dozens of galaxy clusters and groups and span hundreds of millions of light-years. However, clusters do have one thing to cling on to; superclusters are not held together by gravity, so galaxy clusters still retain the title of the biggest structures in the Universe bound by gravity. One of the most interesting features of galaxy clusters is the stuff that permeates the space between the constituent galaxies: the intracluster medium (ICM). High temperatures are created in these spaces by smaller structures forming within the cluster. This results in the ICM being made up of plasma ordinary matter in a superheated state. Most luminous matter in the cluster resides in the ICM, which is very luminous X-rays. However, the majority of the mass in a galaxy cluster exists in the form of non-luminous dark matter. Unlike plasma, dark matter is not made from ordinary matter such as protons, neutrons and electrons. It is a hypothesised substance thought to make up 80 % of the Universes mass, yet it has never been directly observed. This 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.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1815a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, None, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
PSZ1 G308.33-20.21
Subject - Distant Universe
Galaxy > Grouping > Cluster
Esahubble_potw1815a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 15h 18m 49.8s
DEC = -81° 30’ 29.8”
Orientation
North is 51.4° CCW
Field of View
2.6 x 2.4 arcminutes
Constellation
Apus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (B) 435.0 nm
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Cyan Hubble (ACS) Optical (I) 814.0 nm
Cyan Hubble (ACS) Optical (B) 435.0 nm
Orange Hubble (ACS) Optical (I) 814.0 nm
Red Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (Z) 1.1 µm
Red Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (J) 1.3 µm
Red Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (J/H) 1.4 µm
Red Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (H) 1.6 µm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Blue
Cyan
Cyan
Orange
Red
Red
Red
Red
Esahubble_potw1815a_1280
×
ID
potw1815a
Subject Category
D.5.5.3  
Subject Name
PSZ1 G308.33-20.21
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA, RELICS
Release Date
2018-04-09T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1815a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS, ACS, ACS, ACS, WFC3, WFC3, WFC3, WFC3
Color Assignment
Blue, Blue, Cyan, Cyan, Orange, Red, Red, Red, Red
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
B, V, I, B, I, Z, J, J/H, H
Central Wavelength
435, 606, 814, 435, 814, 1050, 1250, 1400, 1600
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
229.707375314, -81.5082663877
Reference Dimension
5224.0, 4716.0
Reference Pixel
2612.0, 2358.0
Scale
-8.32594685825e-06, 8.32594685825e-06
Rotation
51.400000000000126
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
None
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
potw1815a
Metadata Date
2017-08-08T11:52:02+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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