HUBBLE ATLAS

Deep fields & lensing

Perseus Dwarf Galaxies zoom-in animation

March 12, 2009 · ESA/Hubble

Original on ESA/Hubble ↗

A huge cluster of galaxies lies in the northern constellation of Perseus. At a distance of 300 million light-years from Earth, it is one of the nearest galaxy clusters. The entire cluster contains thousands of galaxies and is considered to be one of the most massive objects in the Universe. Astronomers believe the cluster's smallest galaxies have survived intact for billions of years. Hubble has photographed four of these dwarf galaxies, which astronomers believe are embedded in haloes of an invisible form of matter called dark matter.