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Phoenix Cluster (Hubble, Chandra, VLA)

A galaxy cluster. The center of the cluster is bright white with short red jets that point toward the top right and bottom left, and several blue filaments that spread throughout the center. Outside the bright center is purple gas that is bright toward the center and dimmer further from the center. Yellow galaxies of various shapes and sizes are spread throughout the image.

This image of the Phoenix cluster combines data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope and shows how the supermassive black hole at the center promotes large amounts of star formation, instead of hinders it.

X-rays from Chandra depict extremely hot gas in purple. Optical light data from Hubble show galaxies in yellow, and filaments of cooler gas where stars are forming in light blue.

Outburst-generated jets, represented in red, are seen in radio waves by the VLA. As the jets push outward, they inflated cavities, or bubbles, in the hot gas that pervades the cluster.

New observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope trace the cooling gas along those cavities, which enables the Phoenix cluster to form stars at such a high rate.

About the Object

R.A. Position
R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
23:44:40.9
Dec. Position
Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
-42:41:54
Constellation
ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
Phoenix
Distance
DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
5.73 billion light-years
Dimensions
DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
Image is 44 arcsec across (about 1.2 million light-years)

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.
The HST observations include those from programs 15315 (M. McDonald)
Instrument
InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
ACS/WFC
Exposure Dates
Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
May-July 2018
Filters
FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
F475W, F775W, F850LP

Object Name
Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
Phoenix Cluster
Object Description
Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
Cluster of galaxies
Release Date
February 13, 2025
Science Release
Webb Maps Full Picture of How Phoenix Galaxy Cluster Forms Stars
Read the release
Credit
Image: NASA, CXC, NRAO, ESA, Michael McDonald (MIT); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Downloads

Full Res (For Display), 1306 × 1306
png (2.33 MB)
Full Res (For Print), 1306 × 1306
tif (2.41 MB)
Optical, 1306 × 1306
png (2.33 MB)
Radio, 1306 × 1306
png (21.73 KB)
X-ray, 1306 × 1306
png (697.77 KB)

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample narrow wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F475W Green: F775W Red: F850LP

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