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Interesting Bits in Abell 2744 (2013)

Just a few things I wanted to write a little about. To view some details you will have to view the original size.

From left to right, top to bottom:

1. A spiral galaxy with some long tidal streams of stars circling around it.
2. A strange spiral galaxy with many blue galaxies or smaller pieces around it. Either this is just a coincidental alignment of similar little galaxies around a large spiral or it is a somewhat strange merging process going on. Or it is a combination of merging, a strange spiral, and line of sight alignments. Is that an Einstein cross at the upper right within the very red, faint, spiral galaxy?
3. A bright, yellow, and red striped galaxy or a cosmic gummy worm? I am having difficulty imaging what, exactly, this striped bar looks like without the distortion.
4. A striking example of galaxy lensing. The faint blue spiral with a very red core is seen mirroring itself on the uper left side while yet another visage appears in the lower right corner.
5. Another set of three copies of the same long, blue galaxy. Are some of the smaller ones highly distorted images of the same galaxy? It’s hard to tell.

For data used, see the description this image.

North is up for all frames.

Copyright information:
Hubble data is public domain, but I put a lot of work into combining it into beautiful color images. The minimal credit line should read: NASA / ESA / J. Schmidt

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.