New Hubble image of galaxy cluster Abell 1689: Lost in the Stars

[n2doc]

This new image from Hubble is one of the best ever views of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 1689, and shows the phenomenon of gravitational lensing with unprecedented clarity. This cluster acts like a cosmic lens, magnifying the light from objects lying behind it and making it possible for astronomers to explore incredibly distant regions of space. As well as being packed with galaxies, Abell 1689 has been found to host a huge population of globular clusters.

Hubble previously observed this cluster back in 2002. However, this new image combines visible and infrared data from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) to reveal this patch of sky in greater detail than ever before, with a combined total exposure time of over 34 hours.

These new, deeper, observations were taken in order to explore the globular clusters within Abell 1689 [1]. This new study has shown that Abell 1689 hosts the largest population of globular clusters ever found. While our galaxy, the Milky Way, is only home to around 150 of these old clumps of stars, Hubble has spied some 10 000 globular clusters within Abell 1689. From this, the astronomers estimate that this galaxy cluster could possibly contain over 160 000 globulars overall – an unprecedented number.

This is not the first time that this trusty magnifying glass has helped astronomer detectives try to solve clues about the Universe. In 2010, astronomers were able to investigate the elusive phenomena of dark matter and dark energy by mapping the composition of Abell 1689 (opo1037a, heic1014). Its powers as a zoom lens also enabled Hubble to identify a galaxy dubbed A1689-zD1 in 2008, one of the youngest and brightest galaxies ever seen at the time (heic0805).

This image is peppered with glowing golden clumps, bright stars, and distant, ethereal spiral galaxies. Material from some of these galaxies is being stripped away, giving the impression that the galaxy is dripping into the surrounding space. Also visible are a number of electric blue streaks, circling and arcing around the fuzzy galaxies in the centre [2].


more

http://spacetelescope.org/news/heic1317/

[Laelth]

1. Wow! That's a lot of galaxies.

It's impossible for me to believe that there's nothing alive out there.

-Laelth

[mindwalker_i]

2. One has to wonder

That is a lot of galaxies, and within each of those are a lot of stars. How many of those have planets, how many are hospitable to life, and what fraction have allowed intelligent life to evolve? And of that subset of planets that have intelligent life, some of them have learned to brew beer.

How much beer is in that picture?

[n2doc]

3. I don't know about beer, but there is a load of Alcohol in space

http://grist.org/list/theres-a-288-billion-mile-cloud-of-alcohol-in-space/

[mindwalker_i]

4. I was thinking about beer specifically

because it's more of an indication of intelligent life. I wonder what kinds of alchoholic drinks ETs would come up with - would any be similar to beer, which is really a question about what kinds of life evolve and whether other planets would have "grains" that are suitable for beer.

The most basic question is really, how much of evolution was random chance, resulting is the type of plants we have vs. how much is parallel evolution, and how much evolution took place here that was destined to hapen because there's some factor that pushes evolution to result in the development of certain things.

Is beer inevitable, given life and evolution, or if not how much variation is there likely to be? Does the definition of "beer" have to broadened to encompass what other planets develop?