Wide Field Image of Galaxy Cluster SDSS J1110+6459

The galaxy cluster shown here, SDSS J1110+6459, was discovered as part of the Sloan Giant Arcs Survey. It is located about 6 billion light-years from Earth (redshift of z=0.659) and contains hundreds of galaxies. At left, a distinctive blue arc is actually composed of three separate images of a more distant background galaxy called SGAS J111020.0+645950.8. The background galaxy has been magnified, distorted, and multiply imaged by the gravity of the galaxy cluster in a process known as gravitational lensing.

About the colours

This image is a composite of separate exposures made by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope using two different cameras and filters isolating the light of specific elements or of specific broad wavelength ranges. The color arises by assigning different hues (colors), to each monochromatic image. In this case, the colors are: blue WFC3/UVIS F390W, green WFC3/UVIS F606W, orange/red: WFC3/IR F105W, red WFC3/IR F160W.

About the data

The Hubble image was created from HST data from proposal 13003 M. Gladders (U. Chicago)