Ghost Light Galaxy Clusters Compass Image

Ghost Light Galaxy Clusters Compass Image

Image of galaxy clusters MOO J1014+0038 (left panel) and SPT-CL J2106-5844 (right panel) captured by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, with color key, compass arrows, and scale bar for reference.

This image shows near-infrared wavelengths of light. The color key shows which filters were used when collecting the light. The color of each filter name is the color used to represent the wavelength that passes through that filter.

  • The compass graphic points to the object's orientation on the celestial sphere. North points to the north celestial pole which is not a fixed point in the sky, but it currently lies near the star Polaris, in the circumpolar constellation Ursa Minor. Celestial coordinates are analogous to a terrestrial map, though east and west are transposed because we are looking up rather than down.

The scale bar is labeled in light-years (ly) and parsecs (pc).

  • A light-year is the distance that light travels in one Earth-year. (It takes 100,000 years for light to travel a distance equal to the length of the bar.) One light-year is equal to about 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers.
  • A parsec is also a measure of length or distance. One parsec is approximately 3.26 light-years across.

Note that the distance in light-years and parsecs shown on this scale bar applies to the galaxy cluster, not to foreground or background objects.

Click here for a full description of the image.

Credits

Science

NASA, ESA, STScI, James Jee (Yonsei University)

Image Processing

Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

About The Object
Object Name MOO J1014+0038; SPT-CL J2106-5844
Object Description Intracluster Light Among Galaxy Clusters
About The Data
Data Description These images were created from HST data from proposals: (F. High); (S. Perlmutter); (S. Perlmutter); (T. Schrabback).
Instrument HST>WFC3/UVIS; HST>WFC3/IR
Exposure Dates Oct 2011 - Nov 2019
Filters F606W, F814W, F105W, F160W
About The Image
Color Info These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope using the WFC3/UVIS and WFC3/IR instruments. Several filters were used to sample infrared, and visible 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:    MOO J1014+0038: Red: F160W Green: F105W, Blue: F814W SPT-CL J2106+5844: Red: F105W, Green: F814W, Blue: F606W
Compass Image Two side-by-side images showing dozens of galaxies of different colors, shapes, and sizes. At the center of each image is a cluster of galaxies within a ghostly blue light. The left-hand image is labeled MOO J1014+0038 Hubble Space Telescope at the top left. Below is a color key showing the colors assigned to each filter. F814W is dark blue, F105W is green, and F160W is red. Intracluster Light is lighter blue. The right-hand image is labeled SPT-CL J2106-5844 Hubble Space Telescope at the top left. Below is the color key. F606W is dark blue, F814W is green, and F105W is red. Intracluster light is lighter blue. The scale bar and compass arrows show that both images are the same scale and orientation: The scale bars are labeled 100,000 parsecs and 326,000 light-years. The length of each scale bar is about one-fifth the width of each image. The north compass arrows point up (12 o’clock) and the east arrows point to the left (9 o’clock).
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
  • Proposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
  • Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.
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.

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