Details of the VISTA Fornax galaxy cluster image

Upper left: The giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1399 is one of the biggest and brightest galaxies in the Fornax Galaxy Cluster. This huge ball of old stars is surrounded by a cloud of globular star clusters that appear as faint points in this small extract of the VISTA infrared image. Many other more distant galaxies are also visible in the background. This extract is about nine arcminutes across.

Lower left: The spiral galaxy NGC 1386 is one of the smaller members of the cluster. It is a spiral galaxy with a ring around its nucleus. The field of view of this small extract from the VISTA infrared image is about eight arcminutes across.

Upper right: The galaxy NGC 1381 is a galaxy of the lenticular type — half way between an elliptical and a spiral. There is a prominent bulge and a narrow disc, seen edge-on. This small extract from the VISTA infrared image covers a field six arcminutes across.

Lower right: This detail from VISTA’s infrared family portrait of the Fornax Galaxy Cluster shows the galaxy NGC 1365. This object is one of the most striking examples of a barred-spiral galaxy and has the two spiral arms apparently extending from the ends of a prominent straight bar across the galaxy’s nucleus. The field of view of this extract is about nine arcminutes across.