Space & Astronomy

Hubble spies 'ghost lights' of dead stars

By T.K. Randall
November 1, 2014

Image: Artist's Impression of the Hubble Space Telescope
Credit: Hubble ESA / CC BY 2.0 (adapted) The celestial light show comes courtesy of a group of 500 galaxies that were gravitationally torn apart several billion years ago.

Known as Pandora's Cluster, the vast cosmic clash saw countless stars being flung off in to the void of space as galaxies were pulled to pieces by the intense gravitational forces of their neighbors.The view consists of some 200 billion outcast stars that were thrown from their home galaxies over a period of 6 billion years.

"The Hubble data revealing the ghost lights [is an] important step forward in understanding the evolution of galaxy clusters," said astronomer Ignacio Trujillo. "It is also amazingly beautiful in that we found the telltale glow by utilizing Hubble's unique capabilities."

It took astronomers a total of more than three years to build up the incredible image.

Source: Astronomy

Tags: Hubble, Galaxy Cluster