Abell 370
| Abell 370 | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Abell 370 seen by the Hubble Space Telescope on 16 July 2009. |
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| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Right ascension | 02h 39m 48s[1] |
| Declination | −1° 35′ 00″[1] |
| See also: Galaxy, List of galaxies | |
Abell 370 is a galaxy cluster located approximately 6 billion light years away from the Earth (at redshift z=0.375), in the constellation Cetus. Its core is made up of several hundred galaxies. It was catalogued by George Abell, and is the most distant of the clusters he catalogued.
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[edit] Gravitational lensing
Abell 370 appears to include several arcs of light, which in fact are mirages caused by gravitational lensing of more distant objects. [2]
In 2002, astronomers used this lensing effect to discover a galaxy, HCM-6A, 12.8 billion light years away from Earth. At the time it was the furthest known galaxy. [3]
In 2009, study in the field of Abell 370 revealed a grouping of background galaxies lensed and distorted by the cluster into an arc with the appearance of a dragon, hence nicknamed The Dragon[4] by NASA scientists.[5] Its head is composed of a spiral galaxy,[6] with another spiral composing the tail. Several other galaxies form the body of the dragon, all overlapping.[7] These galaxies all lie approximately 10 billion light years away.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "HEASARC Browse". Result for Abell 370. http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/db-perl/W3Browse/w3table.pl?tablehead=name%3Dabell&Action=More+Options. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
- ^ New York Times, "SCIENCE WATCH; Mirages in the Sky May Not Be So Rare" Tuesday, October 18, 1988
- ^ BBC News, "Far away stars light early cosmos" Thursday, 14 March, 2002, 11:38 GMT
- ^ Astronomy Now, "Refurbished Hubble gets off to a flying start" 09-09-09 (accessed 2009-11-07)
- ^ New York Times, "The Universe, in High Definition" 09/09/09 (accessed 2009-11-07)
- ^ New Scientist, "Upgraded Hubble telescope spies cosmic 'dragon' " 09.09.09 (accessed 2009-11-07)
- ^ National Geographic, "NEW HUBBLE PICTURES: First Shots From Upgraded Orbiter" Saturday, November 7, 2009 (accessed 2009-11-07)
- ^ Times of India, "After repairs, new space images from Hubble unveiled" 10 September 2009 (accessed 2009-11-07)
- Gravitationally lensed images in Abell 370 Authors: Grossman, S. A. & Narayan, R. Bibcode: 1989ApJ...344..637G
[edit] External links
- Abell 370 on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images
[edit] See also
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