Six Galaxy Cluster Collisions, with Dark-Matter Maps (Hubble and Chandra)

About the colours

These images are composites of separate exposures acquired by the HST/ACS and CXO/ACIS instruments. Several filters and X-ray energies were used to observe the objects. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter or energy. In this case, the assigned colors are: Pink: X-ray Yellow: Optical Blue: Dark Matter Map

About the data

The images are created from various Hubble archive observations of galaxy clusters.

The science team includes: D. Harvey (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland/University of Edinburgh), R. Massey (Durham University, UK), T. Kitching (University College London), and A. Taylor and E. Tittley (University of Edinburgh, UK).

TOP ROW (left to right): Object Name: MACS J0416.1-2403 Constellation: Eridanus Distance Estimate: 4.29 billion light-years (z=0.396) Coordinates (J2000): RA: 04h 16m 09s.90 | Dec: -24° 03' 58".00

Object Name: MACS J0152.5-2852 Constellation: Fornax Distance Estimate: 4.43 billion light-years (z=0.413) Coordinates (J2000): RA: 01h 52m 34.45s | Dec: -28° 53' 42".23

Object Name: MACS J0717.5+3745 Constellation: Auriga Distance Estimate: 5.41 billion light-years (z=0.545) Coordinates (J2000): RA: 07h 17m 33s.80 | +37° 45' 20".02

BOTTOM ROW (left to right): Object Name: Abell 370 Constellation: Cetus Distance Estimate: 4.12 billion light-years (z=0.375) Coordinates (J2000): RA: 02h 39m 50.5s | Dec: -01° 35' 08"

Object Name: Abell 2744 Constellation: Sculptor Distance Estimate: 3.52 billion light-years (z=0.308) Coordinates (J2000): RA: 00h 14m 19s.51 | Dec: -30° 23' 19".18

Object Name: ZwCl 1358+62 Constellation: Draco Distance Estimate: 3.72 billion light-years (z=0.33) Coordinates (J2000): RA: 13h 59m 50.60s | Dec: +62° 31' 04".00