Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2023 June 9
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                        Pandora's Cluster of Galaxies
    Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]CSA, Ivo Labbe (Swinburne), Rachel
        Bezanson (University of Pittsburgh), Processing: Alyssa Pagan
                                 ([6]STScI)

   Explanation: [7]This deep field mosaicked image presents a stunning
   view of galaxy cluster Abell 2744 from the James Webb Space Telescope's
   NIRCam. Also dubbed Pandora's Cluster, Abell 2744 itself appears to be
   a ponderous merger of three different massive galaxy clusters some 3.5
   billion light-years away toward the constellation Sculptor.
   [8]Dominated by dark matter, the mega-cluster warps and distorts the
   fabric of spacetime, [9]gravitationally lensing even more distant
   objects. Redder than the Pandora cluster galaxies many of the lensed
   sources are very distant galaxies in the early Universe, stretched and
   distorted into arcs. Of course [10]distinctive diffraction spikes mark
   foreground Milky Way stars. At the Pandora Cluster's estimated distance
   this cosmic box spans about 6 million light-years. But don't panic. You
   can explore the tantalizing region in a [11]2 minute video tour.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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    Authors & editors: [23]Robert Nemiroff ([24]MTU) & [25]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([26]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [27]Specific rights apply.
              [28]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [29]ASD at [30]NASA / [31]GSFC
                           & [32]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2306/abell2744_jwst.png
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/
   4. https://www.esa.int/
   5. https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/
   6. https://www.stsci.edu/
   7. https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-107
   8. https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/a2744/
   9. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasawebbtelescope/52957887826/
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220319.html
  11. https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-107#section-id-3
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230608.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  16. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  21. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230609
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230610.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  26. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  28. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  29. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  32. http://www.mtu.edu/