It was subsequently revealed that the original Abell cluster actually made up 2 independent galaxy clusters– a foreground group around 2.3 billion light-years from Earth, and a more group at a greater range of about 5.4 billion light-years from our world. The more distant galaxy cluster, included in the Massive Cluster Survey as MCS J0358.8-2955, is central in this image. The two galaxy groups are thought to have masses comparable to around 30 trillion and 120 trillion times the mass of the Sun, respectively. Both of the 2 largest galaxies at the center of this image are part of MCS J0358.8-2955; the smaller sized galaxies you see here, however, are a mixture of the 2 groups within Abell 3192.
This Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy cluster Abell 3192 in the constellation Eridanus. Believed to be a single cluster, further research exposed it consists of two different galaxy clusters, with one closer at 2.3 billion light-years and another more far-off at 5.4 billion light-years. The more remote cluster, MCS J0358.8-2955, is main in the image. These clusters, rich in mass and covered in dark matter, develop a gravitational lens result, distorting the appearance of smaller galaxies behind them. Credit: ESA/Hubble & & NASA, G. Smith, H. Ebeling, D. Coe
Abell 3192, recorded by Hubble, is a complex of 2 galaxy clusters in Eridanus, showing a gravitational lens result due to their enormous mass.
All this hidden product– not to discuss the many galaxies visible in this image– makes up such a huge amount of mass that the galaxy cluster noticeably curves spacetime around it, making it into a gravitational lens. Smaller galaxies behind the cluster appear misshaped into long, deformed arcs around the clusters edges.
The galaxy cluster lies in the constellation Eridanus, but the question of its distance from Earth is a more complicated one. Abell 3192 was initially recorded in the 1989 update of the Abell brochure, a brochure of galaxy clusters that was first published in 1958. At that time, Abell 3192 was thought to consist of a single cluster of galaxies, concentrated at a single range. More research study exposed something unexpected: the clusters mass appeared to be densest at 2 distinct points rather than one..
Believed to be a single cluster, additional research study revealed it makes up two different galaxy clusters, with one closer at 2.3 billion light-years and another more distant at 5.4 billion light-years. It was subsequently revealed that the initial Abell cluster in fact comprised two independent galaxy clusters– a foreground group around 2.3 billion light-years from Earth, and a further group at a higher range of about 5.4 billion light-years from our planet. The more distant galaxy cluster, included in the Massive Cluster Survey as MCS J0358.8-2955, is main in this image.