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Astronomy Image of the Day

A Distant Cluster of Galaxies

14 January 1996

Author not provided

NASA Astronomy Image of the Day for 14 January 1996

very bright object in this 1994 photograph by the Hubble Space Telescope is a galaxy. Oddly - most of the objects are spiral galaxies. This rich cluster of galaxies, named CL 0939+4713, is almost half way across the visible universe. Photos like this indicate that clusters in the past contained a higher fraction of spirals than do nearby clusters, which are usually dominated by elliptical galaxies.

Image and explanation courtesy of NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

A Distant Cluster of Galaxies | APOD | AstroDelta