'Pandora' Galaxy Cluster Crash Yields Dark Matter Clues

The Pandora cluster consists of four galaxy clusters that have been in the process of colliding with each other over the last 350 million years .
It is estimated the clusters contain hundreds of galaxies and trillions of stars along with gas and dark matter .
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/29dd0d0e3c43.jpg[/atsimg]
Dark matter shown as blue on the image , Hot gas shown as Red.

Hubble's sharp view allowed the team to map out the dark matter in the cluster through the effect of gravitational lensing - a phenomenon in which the heavy-but-invisible matter can bend light passing by it, creating multiple images of stars and galaxies behind it. "Now we've got a combined picture of the galaxies, the gas and the dark matter, and we can put together the full picture with all three ingredients."

That full picture is an extraordinarily rare collision - and a rare opportunity to learn more about dark matter. It remains enigmatic not least because it interacts very little - if at all - with normal matter, so the dark matter of the Pandora cluster has careered through the crash scene, emerging on the other side.

www.bbc.co.uk...
The Universe is truly an awe-inspiring place

Cool find

After all those galaxies are done colliding its gonna be one big "Pandora Cluster" phuck.