Astrophoto Lab
--- your online source for astronomical & satellite images ---

Abell’s Richest Cluster
Home
Welcome!
General Information
Special Galleries
AstroIndex
EarthIndex
Deep Space
Galaxies
Nebulae
Stars, Supernovae
Solar System
Earth from Space
NASA Space Programs
Other Astro Images
Posters
Space Image Gallery
Useful Links
Credits & Useage
Feedback
Signup
Name: Abell 665
Description: Galaxy Cluster
Position (J2000): RA 8h 30m 58.38s  Dec 65° 50' 27.33"
Constellation: Ursa Major
Distance: 2 billion light years
Field of view: 3.36 x 3.33 arcminutes
Orientation: North is 91.8° left of vertical
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release date: October 30, 2017
Click the image to buy a print
+
—————————————————————————————————————————————————

ABOUT THIS IMAGE:

The Universe contains some truly massive objects. Although we are still unsure how such gigantic things come to be, the current leading theory is known as hierarchical clustering, whereby small clumps of matter collide and merge to grow ever larger. The 14-billion-year history of the Universe has seen the formation of some enormous cosmic structures, including galaxy groups, clusters, and superclusters — the largest known structures in the cosmos!

This particular cluster is called Abell 665. It was named after its discoverer, George O. Abell, who included it in his seminal 1958 cluster catalogue. Abell 665 is located in the well-known northern constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear). This incredible image combines visible and infrared light gathered by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope using two of its cameras: the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3.

Abell 665 is the only galaxy cluster in Abell’s entire catalogue to be given a richness class of 5, indicating that the cluster contains at least 300 individual galaxies. Because of this richness, the cluster has been studied extensively at all wavelengths, resulting in a number of fascinating discoveries — among other research, Abell 665 has been found to host a giant radio halo, powerful shockwaves, and has been used to calculate an updated value for the Hubble constant (a measure of how fast the Universe is expanding).