Hubble Finds Galaxy Cluster Abell 1689 Full of Giant Star Clusters
Peering deep into the heart of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 1689, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has nabbed more than 160,000 globular clusters, the largest population ever seen.
The image at left, taken by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, shows the numerous galaxies that make up Abell 1689. The box near the center outlines one of the regions sampled by Hubble, containing a rich collection of globular clusters.
The monochromatic view at right, taken at visible wavelengths, zooms into the region packed with globular clusters. They appear as thousands of tiny white dots, which look like a blizzard of snowflakes. The larger white blobs are entire galaxies of stars.
Globular clusters, dense collections of hundreds of thousands of stars, are the homesteaders of galaxies, containing some of the oldest surviving stars in the universe. Almost 95 percent of globular cluster formation occurred within the first 1 billion or 2 billion years after our universe was born in the big bang 13.7 billion years ago.
Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys snapped these images from June 12 to 21, 2002, and between May 29 and July 8, 2010.
Members of the science team are John Blakeslee; Karla Alamo-Martinez and Rosa Gonzalez-Lopezlira, Center for Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, in Morelia; Myungkook James Jee, University of California, Davis; Patrick Cote and Laura Ferrarese, DAO/NRC Herzberg Astrophysics; Andres Jordan, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, in Santiago; Gerhardt Meurer, International Centre of Radio Astronomy Research, University of Western Australia, in Perth; Eric Peng, Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University; and Michael West, Maria Mitchell Observatory, in Nantucket, Mass.
Credits
NASA, ESA, J. Blakeslee (NRC Herzberg Astrophysics Program, Dominion Astrophysical Observatory), and K. Alamo-Martinez (National Autonomous University of Mexico);Acknowledgment: H. Ford (JHU)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Abell 1689 |
| Object Description | Galaxy Cluster and Globular Star Clusters |
| R.A. Position | 13h 11m 34.19s |
| Dec. Position | -1° 21' 56.0" |
| Constellation | Virgo |
| Distance | 2.25 billion light-years (690 megaparsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | ACS/WFC data of Abell 1689 were obtained as part of HST proposal : J. Blakeslee (NRC Herzberg Astrophysics Program, Victoria, B.C.) Proposal co-Is include science team members listed below plus R. Bouwens (Leiden University), R. Barber DeGraaff (Washington State University), D. Magee (University of California, Santa Cruz), L. Bradley (STScI), and A. Zirm (University of Copenhagen). Authors on the science paper include: J. Blakeslee (NRC Herzberg Astrophysics Program, Victoria, B.C.), K. Alamo-Martinez and R. Gonzalez-Lopezlira (National Autonomous University of Mexico) M.J. Jee (University of California, Davis), P. Cote and L. Ferrarese (DAO/NRC Herzberg Astrophysics), A. Jordan (Pontifical Catholic University of Chile), G. Meurer (University of Western Australia, Perth), E. Peng (Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University), and M. West (Maria Mitchell Observatory). |
| Instrument | HST>ACS/WFC |
| Exposure Dates | June 12 - 21, 2002, May 29, 2010, and July 8, 2010 |
| Filters | F475W (g), F625W (r), F775W (i), F814W (I), and F850LP (z) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | Note: The release image is a composite of the F814W (I) data from proposal 11710, taken May 29 - July 8, 2010, and F475W (g), F625W (r), F775W (i), and F850LP (z) data from proposal 9289, PI: H. Ford (JHU), taken June 12 - 21, 2002. This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Several filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Galaxy Cluster (left): Blue: F475W (g) Green: F625W (r) Red: F775W (i) + F850LP (z) Globular Star Clusters (right): Blue: F475W (g) Green: F625W (r) Red: F775W (i) + F814W (I) + F850LP (z) |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
