Buzz
While observing a galaxy cluster named MACSJ0138.0-2155 using the Hubble Space Telescope, it projects beams of light onto a dormant galaxy (due to depleted fuel for new star formation) at an extremely distant distance of about 10 billion light-years - named MRG-M0138. This impressive and rare bending of light is captured in the image above. Such phenomena are only visible in rare cases and only the best astronomical lenses can observe related phenomena. Hubble's high sensitivity and resolution allow it to detect faint and distant gravitational lenses that cannot be detected by ground-based telescopes with images blurred by Earth's atmosphere.This image was obtained using observations from eight different infrared filters spanning two of Hubble's most advanced astronomical instruments: the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3. These instruments were installed by astronauts during the last two maintenance missions for the Hubble Space Telescope and have truly provided astronomers with detailed observations across both a large sky area and a wide range of wavelengths.
A galaxy cluster distorts the structure of spacetime, altering the path of light passing through itAccording to Einstein, light doesn't always travel in a straight line. When light passes through large objects, such as a galaxy cluster, its path will be slightly altered, for example, bent (as illustrated), pulled, or even making a galaxy appear doubled. This phenomenon is called gravitational lensing (similar to how light rays converge or diverge when encountering a lens).Today, astronomers can utilize this phenomenon to create natural gravitational lenses to study objects such as inactive galaxy clusters far away because using the Hubble Space Telescope would otherwise be unable to observe them.Source: www.nasa.gov
