AGC 2744
The giant galaxy cluster Abell 2744 is nicknamed Pandora’s Cluster. It appears to have resulted from a simultaneous pileup of at least four separate, smaller galaxy clusters. The crash took place over a span of 350 million years. The cluster is situated over 4 billion light years from here.
The galaxies in the cluster make up less than five percent of its mass. The gas (around 20 percent) is so hot that it shines only in X-rays. Dark matter is thought to make up nearly 75 percent.
Dark matter does not emit, absorb, or reflect light, but it makes itself appar-ent through its gravitational attraction. The cluster is seen exhibiting a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. This is the bending of light rays from distant galaxies as they pass through the gravitational field created by the cluster. The result is a series of telltale distortions in the images of galaxies in the background
Imaged in LRGB on our CDK 1000 at El Sauce, Obstech, Chile
Integration time: 31 hours
Image Processing: Mike Selby