Zoom in on Abell 1689 [HD Video]

This video zooms in on the galaxy cluster Abell 1689. Overlaid in purple is the distribution of dark matter in the galaxy cluster. The distribution of normal and dark matter in the lens, the relative geometry of the lens and distant galaxies behind the cluster, and the effect of dark energy on the geometry of the universe, together explain the distorted shapes of some of the galaxies visible here. Astronomers are able to use this relationship to probe the properties of dark energy.

 

Credit: NASA, ESA, ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2, E. Jullo (JPL/LAM), P. Natarajan (Yale) and J-P. Kneib (LAM). Music: John Dyson (from the album "Moonwind"). Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin

 

To view a still high res image from this video go to: www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4910568042

 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.

 

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Uploaded on August 20, 2010