Abell 1703 – Hubble Space Telescope Image

Abell 1703 fills this Hubble Space Telescope view with a dense gathering of galaxies in the constellation Canes Venatici. At its centre, warm yellow forms crowd together, their concentrated light standing sharply against the black field. Around them, cooler blue objects and innumerable faint points extend towards every edge, giving the image an exceptional impression of depth.

Classified as a galaxy cluster and recorded at a redshift of z=0.26, Abell 1703 is not presented here as a single, neatly bounded object. Instead, the cluster occupies a field rich in different shapes and intensities: compact luminous cores, diffuse haloes, elongated smudges and delicate streaks. The result is less like a conventional portrait than a deep visual survey, in which the central concentration gradually gives way to quieter, more widely scattered light.

A closer look

Near the centre, several yellow-toned galaxies form the brightest and most crowded part of the composition. Their cores appear almost point-like at first, but in a large reproduction faint envelopes become visible around them, softening their boundaries and distinguishing one form from another. The surrounding darkness is far from empty: fine, dim objects emerge throughout it, some rounded, others narrow or irregular.

The upper-right region contains a particularly prominent spiral form, its pale structure more expansive than many of the compact objects nearby. Along the upper edge, a slender arc of light is suspended against the black, while an elongated galaxy nearer the upper middle introduces another distinct silhouette. These isolated forms give the eye places to pause before returning to the denser centre.

Across the lower portion of the frame, the palette shifts towards blue. A faint concentration stretches through the lower centre, while tiny blue and white points gather towards the bottom-right corner. At the left edge, barely perceptible streaks and dim patches hover close to the threshold of visibility. Seen at scale, these subdued details are as important as the brightest galaxies: they create successive layers of light rather than a flat scatter of points.

How this image was made

This image of Abell 1703 was produced from observations by the Hubble Space Telescope. The supplied metadata do not specify the instrument, observing dates, exposure time or colour-mapping method, so the visible yellow, blue and white palette is best understood simply as the appearance of the finished astronomical image rather than interpreted as a stated natural- or assigned-colour scheme. The image was released on 24 July 2008.

Image details and provenance

• Subject: Abell 1703
• Object type: Galaxy cluster; classified as Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
• Constellation: Canes Venatici
• Distance from Earth: z=0.26 (redshift)
• Telescope: Hubble Space Telescope
• Original release date: 24 July 2008, 17:00
• Image credit: NASA, ESA, and Johan Richard (Caltech, USA) Acknowledgement: Davide de Martin & James Long (ESA/Hubble)

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