Galaxy clusters are some of the most massive objects that can be found in the Universe. A new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows one of these objects — a huge group of galaxies called SDSS J1110+6459; it also features a rare and interesting type of galaxy called a jellyfish galaxy.
This Hubble image shows the massive galaxy cluster SDSS J1110+6459, which is located about 6 billion light-years from Earth. The image includes optical and infrared observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Four filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.
Galaxy clusters are some of the most interesting structures in the cosmos.
They can contain thousands of galaxies all held together by the glue of gravity and, typically, have a mass of about one million billion times the mass of the Sun.
At one point in time they were believed to be the largest structures in the Universe — until they were usurped in the 1980s by the discovery of superclusters, which typically contain dozens of galaxy clusters and groups and span hundreds of millions of light-years.
However, clusters do have one thing to cling on to; superclusters are not held together by gravity, so galaxy clusters still retain the title of the biggest structures in the Universe bound by gravity.
The gigantic mass of the galaxy cluster SDSS J1110+6459 creates the fascinating phenomenon of gravitational lensing.
The cluster’s gravity bends light coming from behind it in a similar way to how the base of a wine glass bends light.
The effects of this lensing can be clearly seen as streaks, blobs, curved lines and distorted shapes.
The Hubble image also features a very interesting type of galaxy called a jellyfish galaxy, visible just right next to the cluster and apparently dripping bright blue material.
These are galaxies that lose gas via a process called ram-pressure stripping, where the drag caused by the galaxy moving through space causes gas to be stripped away.
