Pandora’s Cluster (combined Hubble and VLT view)

This image of galaxy cluster Abell 2744 combines data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys, with an image taken with the ESO VLT. Hubble provides the central, most detailed part of the image, while the VLT offers a wider field of view.

This object has been nicknamed Pandora’s Cluster because of the many different and strange phenomena that were unleashed by a huge collision that occurred over a period of 350 million years. A simultaneous pile-up between at least four separate clusters has produced strange effects that have never been seen together before.

Credit:

NASA, ESA, ESO and D. Coe (STScI)/J. Merten (Heidelberg/Bologna)

About the Image

Id:eso1120c
Type:Observation
Release date:22 June 2011, 15:00
Related releases:eso1120
Size:8068 x 8067 px

About the Object

Name:Abell 2744
Type:Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Distance:z=0.308 (redshift)
Constellation:Sculptor
Category:Galaxies

Image Formats

Large JPEG
13.2 MB
Screensize JPEG
235.1 KB

Zoomable


Wallpapers

1024x768
243.2 KB
1280x1024
394.6 KB
1600x1200
568.4 KB
1920x1200
667.3 KB
2048x1536
909.6 KB

Coordinates

Position (RA):0 14 20.51
Position (Dec):-30° 23' 57.19"
Field of view:6.72 x 6.72 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 0.0° left of vertical

Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Optical
B
435 nmHubble Space Telescope
ACS
Optical
V
Very Large Telescope
FORS1
Optical
V
606 nmHubble Space Telescope
ACS
Optical
R
Very Large Telescope
FORS1
Optical
I
814 nmHubble Space Telescope
ACS
Infrared
I
Very Large Telescope
FORS1