eMACS J1823.1+7822 has so much mass that it acts as a gravitational lens, causing light from distant galaxies to bend around it.
eMACS J1823.1+7822 is located approximately 9 billion light-years away in the constellation of Draco.
“Like a submerged sea monster causing waves on the surface, this cosmic leviathan can be identified by the distortions in spacetime around it,” Hubble astronomers said.
“The mass of eMACS J1823.1+7822 has caused the images of background galaxies to be gravitationally lensed.”
“The galaxy cluster has caused a sufficient curvature of spacetime to bend the path of light and cause background galaxies to appear distorted into streaks and arcs of light.”
“A host of other galaxies can be seen surrounding the cluster, and a handful of foreground stars with tell-tale diffraction spikes are scattered throughout the image.”
Also known as PSZ1 G109.88+27.94, eMACS J1823.1+7822 is one of five exceptionally massive galaxy clusters explored by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in the hopes of measuring the strengths of these gravitational lenses and providing insights into the distribution of dark matter in galaxy clusters.
“Strong gravitational lenses like eMACS J1823.1+7822 can help us study distant galaxies by acting as vast natural telescopes which magnify objects that would otherwise be too faint or distant to resolve,” the astronomers said.
The new image of eMACS J1823.1+7822 is made up of observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the ultraviolet, infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum.
Eight filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
“Both ACS and WFC3 instruments have the ability to view astronomical objects in just a small slice of the electromagnetic spectrum using filters, which allow us to image objects at precisely selected…
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