El Gordo: a massive distant merging galaxy cluster

Eso_eso1203b_1024

eso_eso1203b January 9th, 2012

Credit: ESO/SOAR

This picture of the galaxy cluster ACT-CL J0102−4915 combines images taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope with images from the SOAR Telescope. This newly discovered object has been nicknamed El Gordo — the "big" or "fat one" in Spanish. It consists of two separate galaxy subclusters colliding at several million kilometres per hour, and is so far away that its light has travelled for seven billion years to reach the Earth. The merging cluster appear as a cloud of huge numbers of faint galaxies stretching from the lower left to the upper right of the picture. Close to the centre a pale blue line caused by gravitational lensing of a more distant galaxy can be seen.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1203b/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
ACT-CL J0102−4915
Subject - Distant Universe
Galaxy > Grouping > Cluster
Eso_eso1203b_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 1h 2m 57.1s
DEC = -49° 15’ 20.1”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
6.5 x 5.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Phoenix

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red VLT (FORS2) Infrared (Z) 910.0 nm
Green VLT (FORS2) Infrared (I) 768.0 nm
Blue VLT (FORS2) Optical (R) 655.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Blue
Eso_eso1203b_1280
×
ID
eso1203b
Subject Category
D.5.5.3  
Subject Name
ACT-CL J0102−4915
Credits
ESO/SOAR
Release Date
2012-01-09T12:12:47
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1203b/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope
Instrument
FORS2, FORS2, FORS2
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Blue
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Optical
Bandpass
Z, I, R
Central Wavelength
910, 768, 655
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
15.7380056213, -49.2555857869
Reference Dimension
1530.0, 1182.0
Reference Pixel
765.0, 591.0
Scale
-7.03921047513e-05, 7.03921047513e-05
Rotation
0
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.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
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
eso1203b
Metadata Date
2012-01-09T11:03:56+01:00
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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