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Keyword: sdssj15313414

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  • Astronomy Picture of the Day -- A Blue Bridge of Stars between Cluster Galaxies

    07/15/2014 2:02:13 PM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 14 replies
    NASA ^ | July 15, 2014 | (see photo credit)
    Explanation: Why is there a blue bridge of stars across the center of this galaxy cluster? First and foremost the cluster, designated SDSS J1531+3414, contains many large yellow elliptical galaxies. The cluster's center, as pictured above by the Hubble Space Telescope, is surrounded by many unusual, thin, and curving blue filaments that are actually galaxies far in the distance whose images have become magnified and elongated by the gravitational lens effect of the massive cluster. More unusual, however, is a squiggly blue filament near the two large elliptical galaxies at the cluster center. Close inspection of the filament indicates that...