Hubble Captures A Stunning Image Of Abell S1063, A Deform Cluster Of Galaxies

Hubble telescope spotted a striking image of Abell S1063, a cluster of galaxies which is located 4 billion light-years away. It contains an estimated 100 million--million solar masses and 51 confirmed galaxies or even more than 400.

Abell S1063: Home to...100 million-million solar masses - captured by #Hubble (VIDEO) https://t.co/ZgrD44KHf4 pic.twitter.com/rt0mPC56oe

— RT (@RT_com) July 21, 2016

Immense galaxy cluster Abell S1063 located 4 billion light-years away 100 million-million solar masses 400 galaxies pic.twitter.com/RCvKKAMslJ — M Barak Cherguia (@CherguiaMbark) July 21, 2016

The Abell S1063 cluster of galaxies is extremely bright in high-energy X-ray light. This results when the neighboring galaxies merge due to gravity and the infalling gasses collide. These heat the gas, which then releases high-energy X-ray light. The X-ray brightness of the Abell S1063 is one of the clues of the merging of multiple galaxy clusters that humans can observe, according to Frontier Fields.

The Abell S1063 galaxy cluster observed by the Hubble Space Telescope, July 21st 2016 (AFP/NASA/ESA/Hubble/J.Lotz) pic.twitter.com/kScIQ925D7 — The Economist (@TheEconomist) July 21, 2016

The National Geographic reports that Abell S1063 stretches about 20 million light-years. It weighs about four quadrillion times more than the sun. The huge mass of Abell S1063 deforms and enlarges the light from galaxies that lie behind. It. This is because of the effect called gravitational lensing.

The image of Abell S1063 is considered one of the features of the Hubble Frontier Fields, which is the three-year, 840-orbit program, begun in 2013. NASA's space observatories such as the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Spitzer Space telescope and the teams Hubble aim to probe the early Universe by examining six different galaxy clusters, according to Science News.

Astronomer George O. Abell in 1958 compiled the Abell Catalogue of galaxy clusters. It contained more than 2,700 galaxy clusters that were observed from the Northern hemisphere. This catalog was updated in 1989 with galaxy clusters from the Southern Hemisphere.