Hubble Examines the Galaxy Cluster MACSJ 1206
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the massive galaxy cluster MACSJ 1206. Embedded within the cluster are the distorted images of distant background galaxies, seen as arcs and smeared features. These distortions are caused by the dark matter in the cluster, whose gravity bends and magnifies the light from faraway galaxies, an effect called gravitational lensing. This phenomenon allows astronomers to study remote galaxies that would otherwise be too faint to see.
Astronomers measured the amount of gravitational lensing caused by this cluster to produce a detailed map of the distribution of dark matter in it. Dark matter is the invisible glue that keeps stars bound together inside a galaxy and makes up the bulk of the matter in the Universe.
The Hubble image is a combination of visible- and infrared-light observations taken in 2011 by the Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3.
Credit:NASA, ESA, G. Caminha (University of Groningen), M. Meneghetti (Observatory of Astrophysics and Space Science of Bologna), P. Natarajan (Yale University), and the CLASH team.
About the Image
Id: | heic2016b |
Type: | Collage |
Release date: | 10 September 2020, 20:00 |
Related releases: | heic2016 |
Size: | 2082 x 1911 px |
About the Object
Name: | MACS J1206.2-0847, MACSJ1206.2-0847 |
Type: | Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster Early Universe : Cosmology |
Category: | Cosmology Galaxies |
Wallpapers
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Optical B | 435 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Optical g | 475 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Optical V | 606 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Optical r | 625 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Optical i | 775 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Optical I | 814 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Optical z | 850 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Infrared Y | 1.05 μm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Infrared YJ | 1.1 μm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Infrared J | 1.25 μm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Infrared JH | 1.4 μm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Infrared H | 1.6 μm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |