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Lente gravitacional y cúmulo de galaxias, MACS 1206

Four and a half billion light-years away in the constellation Virgo, scores of galaxies have been drawn together by the mutual gravitational pull. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has peered at this galaxy cluster and gravitational lens, known as MACS 1206. Gravity from the cluster'...

Fecha
Jan 1, 2011
Misión
Hubble Space Telescope
ID de archivo
hubblesite-images-2011-25-2891-image
Por

Four and a half billion light-years away in the constellation Virgo, scores of galaxies have been drawn together by the mutual gravitational pull. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has peered at this galaxy cluster and gravitational lens, known as MACS 1206. Gravity from the cluster's immense mass bends the space around it, causing the images of more distant galaxies directly behind the cluster (that are within our line of sight) to be warped and cast into arc-like smears of light. The orange streak to the right of the image center is one such example of an optically distorted galaxy that resides millions of light-years behind MACS 1206. The circular pattern of smaller galaxy pieces is more evidence of gravitational lensing.

The central object in the cluster is a giant elliptical galaxy plump with billions of old, reddish suns, surrounded by a thinner halo of stars. Disk-shaped spiral galaxies appear, both edge- and face-on, showing a defined structure of arms encircling their central bulges. The bluer galaxies have stars actively forming within them and, consequently, host groups of young blue stars that contribute to their overall hue. In contrast, red galaxies – especially those elliptical galaxies like the center one – are more stable in their behavior, with very few little recent star formation.

Credits

NASA, ESA, M. Postman (STScI), the CLASH Team, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Detalles de la imagen

About The Object
Object NameMACS J1206.2-0847, MACS 1206
Object DescriptionGalaxy Cluster
R.A. Position12h 6m 11.97s
Dec. Position-8° 48' 0.03"
ConstellationVirgo
Distance4.5 billion light-years (1.2 billion parsecs)
About The Data
Data DescriptionThis image was created from HST data from proposal : M. Postman (STScI) et al.
InstrumentHST>ACS/WFC and HST>WFC3/IR
Exposure DatesApril - July 2011, Exposure Time: 19 hours
FiltersACS/WFC: F606W (V), F625W (r), ACS/WFC F775W (i), F814W (I), and F850LP (z) WFC3/IR: F105W (Y), F110W (YJ), F125W (J), F140W (JH), and F160W (H)
About The Image
Color InfoThis image is a composite of many separate exposures made by the ACS and WFC3 instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope using ten different filters. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: ACS/WFC F606W (V) + F625W (r) Green: ACS/WFC F775W (i) + F814W (I) + F850LP (z) Red: WFC3/IR F105W (Y) + F110W (YJ) + F125W (J) + F140W (JH) + F160W (H)

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