This parallel field observation from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope reveals a diverse collection of galaxies in the direction of the constellation Sculptor.
This Hubble image shows thousands of galaxies swimming in the inky blackness of space; a few foreground stars from our Milky Way Galaxy are also visible. Image credit: NASA / ESA / HST Frontier Fields Team / STScI / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.
This spectacular skyscape was captured during the study of the galaxy cluster Abell 2744, a group of roughly 500 galaxies — also known as ACO 2744 and the Pandora’s Box — located approximately 4 billion light-years from Earth.
The image was taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) as part of the Frontier Fields program.
It is based on data obtained through three filters: a near-infrared (F814W) filter, a blue (F435W) filter and a wide V-band (F606W) filter.
While one of Hubble’s cameras concentrated on Abell 2744, the other camera viewed the adjacent patch of sky near to the cluster.
Containing countless galaxies of various ages, shapes and sizes, this parallel field observation is nearly as deep as the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field.
In addition to showcasing the beauty of the deep Universe in detail, this parallel field will help astronomers understand how similar the Universe looks in different directions.
Astronomer Judy Schmidt submitted a version of the image to the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition.
