Galaxy cluster fireworks

This multi-telescope composite combines X-ray, infrared and optical data of the galaxy cluster XDCPJ0044.0-2033.

The purple/pink in the image corresponds to infrared emission measured by Herschel and X-ray emission detected with NASA's Chandra telescope.

Infrared data from ESA's Herschel telescope has revealed where interstellar dust in the cluster's core is being heated by young, hot, stars. This is the first time that star formation has been found in the core of a cluster of this size and age.

The X-ray data were used to map the mass of this giant cluster.

These data have been combined with optical and near-infrared images of the cluster captured by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan's Subaru telescope and the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope, the data from which are coloured red, green and blue in this image.

XDCPJ0044.0-2033 is a massive galaxy cluster with an estimated mass of about four hundred thousand billion times that of our Sun. It lies at a redshift of almost 1.6, meaning that we see it as it was 9.6 billion years ago.