A massive cluster of galaxies is about 8 billion light-years from Earth.
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a new view of a massive cluster of galaxies called eMACS J1353.7+4329. This cluster is located about eight billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Canis Hounds.
By comparison, the farthest object ever observed is 13.5 billion light-years from Earth.
The Hubble Space Telescope captured the creation of a “space monster”
In a statement, the European Space Agency ESA calls this cluster of galaxies a “monster in the making”, consisting of at least two elliptical galaxy clusters in the process of merging. As noted by the ESA, the merger will result in a single giant cluster that acts like a gravitational lens.
The cluster of galaxies is visible in the new Hubble image as a dense array of bright ovals. Each galaxy has a glowing orange halo around its core. There are numerous other galaxies in the image, as well as a bright star showing star formation with four distinct diffraction bursts.
