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Take a Tour of Pandora’s Cluster

This video tours Pandora’s Cluster (Abell 2744), a region where multiple clusters of galaxies are in the process of merging to form a megacluster. Astronomers estimate 50,000 sources of near-infrared light are represented in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

The concentration of mass in Pandora’s Cluster is so great that the fabric of spacetime is warped by gravity, creating an effect that makes the region of special interest to astronomers: a natural, super-magnifying glass called a “gravitational lens” that they can use to see very distant sources of light beyond the cluster that would otherwise be undetectable, even to Webb. These lensed sources, which are particularly prominent in the lower right area, appear red in the image, and often as elongated arcs distorted by the gravitational lens.

The video also highlights a mysterious object that appears to be no more than a red dot. One theory is that this source of infrared light is a glowing disk of gas surrounding a supermassive black hole in the early universe.

  • Release Date
    February 15, 2023
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb Uncovers New Details in Pandora’s Cluster
  • Credit
    Video: STScI, Danielle Kirshenblat; Music: PremiumBeat Music, Klaus Hergersheimer; Science: Ivo Labbe (Swinburne), Rachel Bezanson (University of Pittsburgh); Image Processing: STScI, Alyssa Pagan

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  • Video: Video Tour of Pandora's Cluster, 1920 × 1080, 30 FPS
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  • Video: Video Tour of Pandora's Cluster with Subtitles, 1920 × 1080, 30 FPS
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  • Video: Video Tour of Pandora's Cluster, 1280 × 720, 30 FPS
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  • Video: Video Tour of Pandora's Cluster with Subtitles, 1280 × 720, 30 FPS
    mp4 (12.1 MB)
  • Audio Description
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  • Audio Description
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  • Audio Description
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  • Captions
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  • Captions
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  • Image: Video still frame, 1280 × 720
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  • Transcript
    doc (19.07 KB)
  • Transcript
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Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Video Credit

STScI, Danielle Kirshenblat

Music Credit

PremiumBeat Music, Klaus Hergersheimer

Science Credit

Ivo Labbe (Swinburne), Rachel Bezanson (University of Pittsburgh)

Image Processing Credit

STScI, Alyssa Pagan