Saturday, November 17, 2012

Galaxy Cluster MACS J0647.7+7015

Galaxy Cluster MACS J0647.7+7015
Click on the image for full resolution (1.6 MB)

This view from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the massive galaxy cluster MACS J0647.7+7015. Astronomers used the powerful gravity from the cluster to magnify the light from a distant galaxy, using an effect called gravitational lensing. The bright yellow galaxies near the center of the image are cluster members; due to the gravitational lensing technique, astronomers observed three magnified images of a far more distant galaxy called MACS0647-JD with the Hubble telescope. These are visible as small red dots in this image. This is the latest discovery from a large program, called the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH), that uses natural zoom lenses to reveal distant galaxies in the early Universe. This image is a composite taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys. The observations were taken 5 October and 29 November 2011.
The full resolution image weighs 1.6 MB, so please be (a little) patient when downloading!
Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Postman and D. Coe (Space Telescope Science Institute), and the CLASH team
Image enhancement: Jean-Baptiste Faure

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