*Description*: This image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows the diverse collection of galaxies in the cluster Abell S0740 that is over 450 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Centaurus. The giant elliptical ESO 325-G004 looms large at the cluster's center. The galaxy is as massive as 100 billion of our suns. Hubble resolves thousands of globular star clusters orbiting ESO 325-G004. Globular clusters are compact groups of hundreds of thousands of stars that are gravitationally bound together. At the galaxy's distance they appear as pinpoints of light contained within the diffuse halo. Other fuzzy elliptical galaxies dot the image. Some have evidence of a disk or ring structure that gives them a bow-tie shape. Several spiral galaxies are also present. The starlight in these galaxies is mainly contained in a disk and follows along spiral arms. This image was created by combining Hubble science observations taken in January 2005 with Hubble Heritage observations taken a year later to form a 3-color composite. The filters that isolate blue, red and infrared light were used with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard Hubble. For more information, contact: Ray Villard Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md. (phone) 410-338-4514, (e-mail) villard@stsci.edu or John Blakeslee Washington State University, Pullman, Wash. (phone) 509-335-2414, (e-mail) jblakes@wsu.edu or Keith Noll Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md. (phone) 410-338-1828, (e-mail) noll@stsci.edu Technical facts about this news release: About the Object Object Name: ESO 325-G004, Abell S0740 Object Description: Giant Elliptical Galaxy and its Host Galaxy Cluster Position (J2000): R.A. 13h 43m 33s.30 Dec. -38° 10' 34".0 Constellation: Centaurus Distance: Approximately 463 million light-years (142 Megaparsecs) Dimensions: This image is roughy 2.9 arcminutes (385,000 light-years or 120 kiloparsecs) wide. About the Data Data Description: The Hubble image was created from HST data from proposal 10429: PI: J. Blakeslee (Washington State University), J. Lucey and R. Smith (University of Durham), J. Tonry (University of Hawaii), and S. Mei (Johns Hopkins University); and 10710: K. Noll, H. Bond, C. Christian, L. Frattare, F. Hamilton, Z. Levay, M. Mutchler, W. Januszewski, and T. Royle (Hubble Heritage Team/STScI), and J. Blakeslee (Washington State University). Instrument: ACS/WFC Filters: F475W ("g"), F625W ("r"), and F814W ("I") Exposure Date(s): January 2005/February 2006 About the Image Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Release Date: February 6, 2007 Color: This image is a composite of many separate exposures made by the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope using several different filters. Three filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: F475W ("g") blue F625W ("r") green F814W ("I") red Orientation: Hubble Illuminates Cluster of Diverse Galaxies [ http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2007/08/images/a/formats/compass_large_web.jpg ] What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the diverse collection of galaxies in a galaxy cluster called Abell S0740, located more than 450 million light-years away in the constellation Centaurus. The giant elliptical galaxy ESO 325-G004 looms large at the cluster's center. This galaxy is as massive as 100 billion suns. Hubble resolves thousands of globular star clusters orbiting ESO 325-G004. Globular clusters are compact groups of hundreds of thousands of stars that are gravitationally bound together. At the galaxy's distance they appear as pinpoints of light contained within the diffuse halo. Other elliptical and spiral galaxies appear in the image. The photo was made from images taken using Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys in January 2005 and February 2006. *News Release Number:*: STScI-2007-08a
