Abell2744 galaxy cluster - Pandora's cluster

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Originally Posted by alpal

fantastic image Ray,
I looked at it for ages - there are galaxys everywhere.
Please do more like that.

cheers
Allan

thanks very much Allan. I still look at it on and off as well - it sure is a fascinating region. Even around the central cluster, there are a couple of hundred galaxies and there are little fuzzy dots all over the place.

regards ray

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

that is an amazing image Ray and beautifully framed with the galaxy top left and brighter stars drawing you into the centre of the galaxy vortex!

Russ

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Fabulous image Ray, I never get tired of these deep galaxy cluster shots - the vastness is very humbling. Great processing, I like the very natural look.

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Originally Posted by rustigsmed

that is an amazing image Ray and beautifully framed with the galaxy top left and brighter stars drawing you into the centre of the galaxy vortex!

Russ

thanks very much Russ.

Originally Posted by SkyViking

Fabulous image Ray, I never get tired of these deep galaxy cluster shots - the vastness is very humbling. Great processing, I like the very natural look.

thanks a lot Rolf. I agree, the universe is mind numbingly vast and puts our puny presence in perspective. It is just so interesting to be able to dig around in some fairly distant parts of it. Just for interest, there is a pale blue galaxy at about 1 o'clock from the central star and that is a dead ringer (from the Hubble image) for the blue galaxy in your 2667 image - it seems that there are occasional galaxies in the process of being torn apart in these dense clusters.

regards Ray

[Rac (Raymond)]

This is an awesome image. Very well processed. I find the background perfect.

[topheart]

I found this awe inspiring!

Thanks!!

Tim

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Originally Posted by Rac

This is an awesome image. Very well processed. I find the background perfect.

thanks Raymond - appreciate your comments

Originally Posted by topheart

I found this awe inspiring!

Thanks!!

Tim

Hi Tim - thanks very much.

regards ray

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Faint suckers. Reminds me of the words. In a galaxy a long time ago. I wonder if there are beings looking back this way wondering the same thing.

Just had a play with the Drake equation Paul. Using some fairly conservative estimates for the unknowable parameters suggests that there may have been more than 1000 civilisations roughly like ours looking back this way from this bit of the sky when the light from Abell 2744 started out. Of course that was over 3 billion years ago, so they may not be there now . Furthermore, when they looked this way, there were not even some photons from the sun to see, since light from the time of the solar system formation would not have got out there until relatively recently.