Hubbles captures distant galaxy 12 times in rare image
By Charlotte Edwards, The Sun, November 8, 2019
This image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a massive galaxy cluster, about 4.6 billion light years away. Along its borders four bright arcs are visible; these are copies of the same distant galaxy, nicknamed the Sunburst Arc. ESA/Hubble, NASA, Rivera-Thorsen
Astronomers have spotted a galaxy in the distant universe that appears duplicated on the night sky at least 12 times.
The unusual sight was captured using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and could give scientists a better understanding of the early universe.
The galaxy appearing multiple times in the image has been nicknamed the Sunburst Arc.
It’s almost 11 billion light-years away.
The Sunburst Arc galaxy is just one singular galaxy but duplicates of it appear multiple times in the captured image due to an effect called strong gravitational lensing.
A gravitational lens refers to matter that has had the direction of light passing nearby it distorted due to gravity bending the space in its gravitational field.
This effect may sound confusing but essentially it’s an illusion of light that can make a singular entity appear multiple times.
The Sunburst Arc has been lensed multiple times in the image by light and mass from the massive cluster of galaxies it’s seen behind.
One of four arcs formed of the light from the Sunburst Arc. ESA/Hubble, NASA, Rivera-Thorsen
The huge galaxy cluster is large enough to bend and magnify the light from the more distant Sunburst Arc galaxy.
Gravitational lensing has resulted in four clear light arcs that you can spot on the unique image.
One arc is in the lower left and three are in the top right.
The galaxy actually appears multiple times within each arc.
Hubble uses a cosmic magnifying lens to study objects like this.
It allows astronomers to study far off areas of the universe in great detail.
The scientists observing the Sunburst Arc think it was created in an era that began only 150 million years after the Big Bang.
When you consider that scientists tend to think the universe is 13.8 billion years old, this makes the Sunburst Arc very old indeed.
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