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Frontier Fields Target Galaxy Clusters

Frontier Fields Target Galaxy Clusters
These are NASA Hubble Space Telescope natural-color images of four target galaxy clusters that are part of an ambitious new observing program called The Frontier Fields. NASA's Great Observatories are teaming up to look deeper into the universe than ever before. With a boost from natural "zoom lenses" found in space, they should be able to uncover galaxies that are as much as 100 times fainter than what the Hubble, Spitzer, and Chandra space telescopes can typically see. The gravitational fields of the clusters brighten and magnify far-more-distant background galaxies that are so faint they would otherwise be unobservable. The foreground clusters range in distance from 3 billion to 5 billion light-years from Earth.

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.
    Abell 2744 (top left) Data were obtained as part of the HST proposal 11689: R. Dupke (Eureka Scientific Inc.) et al. MACS J0416.1-2403 (top right) Data were obtained as part of the HST proposal 12459: M. Postman (STScI) and the CLASH Team MACS J0717.5+3745 (bottom left) Data were obtained as part of HST proposal 10420: H. Ebeling (University of Hawaii) et al. MACS J1149.5+2223 (bottom right) 12068
  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    HST>ACS/WFC and HST>WFC3/IR
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Abell 2744, Pandora's Cluster, MACS J0416.1-2403, MACS J0717.5+3745, MACS J1149.5+2223
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Galaxy Clusters and Gravitational Lens
  • Release Date
    October 24, 2013
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Great Observatories Begin Deepest Ever Probe of the Universe
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz and M. Mountain (STScI)

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Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

Abell 2744

Abell 2744

MACS J0416.1-2403

MACS J0416.1-2403

MACS J0717.5+3745

MACS J0717.5+3745

MACS J1149.5+2223

MACS J1149.5+2223

Compass and Scale Image for Frontier Fields

Compass and Scale Image for Frontier Fields

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Details

Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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