Hubble image of MACS J0717
This enormous image shows Hubble’s view of massive galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745. The large field of view is a combination of 18 separate Hubble images.
Studying the distorting effects of gravity on light from background galaxies, a team of astronomers has uncovered the presence of a filament of dark matter extending from the core of the cluster. This is one of the first positive detections of a filament, and the most precise to date.
Using additional observations from ground-based telescopes, the team were able to map the filament’s structure in three dimensions, the first time this has ever been done.
Credit:
NASA, ESA, Harald Ebeling(University of Hawaii at Manoa) & Jean-Paul Kneib (LAM)
About the Image
| Id: | heic1215b |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | 16 October 2012, 15:00 |
| Related releases: | heic1215 |
| Size: | 18956 x 10646 px |
About the Object
| Name: | MACS J0717.5+3745 |
| Type: | • Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster • Galaxies Images/Videos |
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
| Optical V |
606 nm | Hubble Space Telescope ACS |
| Optical V+I |
Hubble Space Telescope ACS | |
| Optical I |
814 nm | Hubble Space Telescope ACS |
