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Pandora’s Cluster (VLT view)
This image from ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile shows a wide view of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 2744. This object has been nicknamed Pandora’s Cluster because so many different and strange phenomena have been unleashed by a huge collision that occurred over a period of 350 million years. A simultaneous pile-up between at least four separate clusters produced strange effects that have never been seen together before. The VLT data were used to study the distribution of dark matter in this complex cluster.
Credit:
ESO & D. Coe (STScI)/J. Merten (Heidelberg/Bologna)
About the Image
| Id: | eso1120b |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | 22 June 2011, 15:00 |
| Related releases: | eso1120 |
| Size: | 2017 x 2017 px |
About the Object
| Name: | Abell 2744 |
| Type: | • Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster • Galaxy Clusters |
| Distance: | z=0.308 (redshift) |
Coordinates
| Position (RA): | 0h 14m 20.41s |
| Position (Dec): | -30° 23' 56.72" |
| Field of view: | 6.71 x 6.71 arcminutes |
| Orientation: | North is 0.0° left of vertical |
View in Worldwide Telescope:
Colours & filters
| Band | Telescope |
| Optical V |
Very Large Telescope FORS1 |
| Optical R |
Very Large Telescope FORS1 |
| Infrared I |
Very Large Telescope FORS1 |
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