We’re recording this episode on a Friday afternoon, and on this 572 day of March 2020, we’ve received a gift from the field of astronomy – a round of pretty pictures. We are going to happily sit back and use this first segment of our show to consider the beauty of our Universe. 

Starting far from home, we have this newly released image of the Fornax Cluster’s central region. This image was taken as part of the Dark Energy Survey and is part of multi-year efforts to map the positions and motions of galaxies in amazing detail. The Fornax cluster is one of the closest galaxy clusters to our galaxy group, and only the Virgo Cluster, which we are becoming part of, is closer. 

Like most galaxy clusters, the central galaxies are massive elliptical systems that anchor the cluster and constantly merge and interact with other systems. In the lower-left corner of this image, we can see an irregular galaxy system that is plunging headlong into the center of the galaxy where it will eventually be torn apart through gravitational interactions and the shock striking intergalactic gas and dust.

We are seeing truly beautiful destruction.

More Information

NOIRLab press release