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Tour of El Gordo Galaxy Cluster

In July 2022, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope observed El Gordo, a galaxy cluster that existed 6.2 billion years after the big bang. It was selected as the most massive galaxy cluster known at that time in cosmic history. The resulting image reveals a variety of gravitationally lensed galaxies, including striking objects nicknamed the Fishhook and the Thin One. Come with us on a video tour of this new infrared image from Webb.

  • Release Date
    August 2, 2023
  • Science Release
    Webb Spotlights Gravitational Arcs in ‘El Gordo’ Galaxy Cluster
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA; Science: Jose Diego (IFCA), Brenda Frye (University of Arizona), Patrick Kamieneski (ASU), Timothy Carleton (ASU), Rogier Windhorst (ASU); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Jake Summers (ASU), Jordan D'Silva (UWA), Anton Koekemoer (STScI), Aaron Robotham (UWA), Rogier Windhorst (ASU); Video: Danielle Kirshenblat (STScI)

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  • Video: 1280 × 720, 30 FPS
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  • Audio Description
    mp4 (56.92 MB)
  • Audio Description
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  • Audio Description
    doc (19.6 KB)
  • Audio Description: Text Description
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  • Captions
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  • Captions
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  • Image: Poster Image, 1280 × 720
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  • Transcript
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Related Images & Videos

A black background is scattered with hundreds of small galaxies of different shapes, ranging in color from white to yellow to red.

El Gordo (NIRCam Image)

Webb’s infrared image of the galaxy cluster El Gordo (“the Fat One”) reveals hundreds of galaxies, some never before seen at this level of detail. El Gordo acts as a gravitational lens, distorting and magnifying the light from distant background galaxies. Two of the most...

The left two-thirds of the frame shows a field of small galaxies on a black background. Near the center of the image, a long, thin line is outlined with a white box and labeled A. At upper right, a red swoosh nearly encircling two galaxies is outlined with a white box and labeled B. The right third of the frame shows zoomed in views of the two regions in the boxes. At top in box A, a thin mottled line extends from upper left to lower right with a handful of background objects. At bottom in box B, a red swoosh wraps around from upper left to lower right, nearly encircling two small galaxies located at one o’clock and seven o’clock.

La Flaca and El Anzuelo (NIRCam Image)

Webb’s infrared image of the galaxy cluster El Gordo (“the Fat One”) reveals hundreds of galaxies, some never before seen at this level of detail. El Gordo acts as a gravitational lens, distorting and magnifying the light from distant background galaxies. Two of the most...

Image titled “James Webb Space Telescope; El Gordo,” with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key.

El Gordo (NIRCam Compass Image)

This is an image of the El Gordo galaxy cluster with compass arrows, scale bar and color key. The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to...

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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

Image Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA

Science Credit

Jose Diego (IFCA), Brenda Frye (University of Arizona), Patrick Kamieneski (ASU), Timothy Carleton (ASU), Rogier Windhorst (ASU)

Image Processing Credit

Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Jake Summers (ASU), Jordan D’Silva (UWA), Anton Koekemoer (STScI), Aaron Robotham (UWA), Rogier Windhorst (ASU)

Video Credit

Danielle Kirshenblat (STScI)

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