This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the diverse collection of galaxies in a galaxy cluster called Abell S0740, located more than 450 million light-years away in the constellation Centaurus. The giant elliptical galaxy ESO 325-G004 looms large at the cluster's center. This galaxy is as massive as 100 billion suns. Hubble resolves thousands of globular star clusters orbiting ESO 325-G004. Globular clusters are compact groups of hundreds of thousands of stars that are gravitationally bound together. At the galaxy's distance they appear as pinpoints of light contained within the diffuse halo. Other elliptical and spiral galaxies appear in the image. The photo was made from images taken using Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys in January 2005 and February 2006.
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Hubble Illuminates Cluster of Diverse Galaxies
NASA Hubble Mission Team
Goddard Space Flight Center
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Hubble Illuminates Cluster of Diverse Galaxies
This image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows the diverse collection of galaxies in the cluster Abell S0740 that is over 450 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Centaurus. The giant elliptical ESO 325-G004 looms large at the cluster's center. The...
ESO 325-G004: Detailing the Big Picture
Evident from the Hubble image is the fact that ESO 325-G004 is home to thousands of globular clusters, small compact groups of hundreds of thousands of stars that are gravitationally bound systems. These clusters are dispersed spherically and uniformly in the outer halo of the...
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Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA);
Acknowledgment: J. Blakeslee (Washington State University)
