# @europeanspaceagency on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DMiVHs-talJ
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/35582130-europeanspaceagency-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/6acfc5c677.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-07-25T15:50:00.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** J.L.Lopez (@xandler80) — https://gondola.cc/xandler80

## Caption

A cosmic clash, frozen in time. 💥

This mesmerising esawebb image shows the heart of the Bullet Cluster — a colossal collision between two galaxy clusters, 3.8 billion light-years away in the constellation Carina.

Galaxy clusters are the Universe’s largest structures held together by gravity. Each one contains hundreds or even thousands of galaxies, along with hot gas, dust, and a mysterious ingredient: dark matter.

Using its Near-Infrared Camera, the James Webb Space Telescope peered deep into this cosmic battleground, revealing distant galaxies and the faint glow of intracluster stars — stars that float freely, no longer tied to any one galaxy.

At the centre of the scene lies a striking light blue spiral galaxy, flanked by the two merging clusters.

By studying the light and shapes of thousands of galaxies, scientists were able to “weigh” both the visible matter and the invisible dark matter in these clusters. Their detailed map of mass distribution shows signs of past mergers and new clues about where dark matter may be hiding.

The key? Those wandering intracluster stars. Because they tend to follow the gravity of dark matter, they might help us trace the invisible.

This image spans over 6 million light-years — and every detail brings us closer to unlocking the mysteries of the dark side of the Universe.

📸 NASA, europeanspaceagency , canadianspaceagency , space_telescopes , J. Jee (Yonsei University, ucdavis), S. Cha (Yonsei University), K. Finner (caltechedu/IPAC); creativecommons BY 4.0

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 14,561
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 57

## Credits

These are the roles credited on Gondola. Credits may be incomplete.
A brand, account owner, or featured person is not necessarily the creator.

| Name | Username | Profile | Role |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ESA - European Space Agency | @europeanspaceagency | https://gondola.cc/europeanspaceagency | Government Organization |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Producer |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Editor |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Social Media Manager |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Publisher |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Copywriter |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Community Manager |

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