Galaxy Cluster Abell 370 and Beyond
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Jennifer Lotz and the HFF Team (STScI)
Explanation: Some 4 billion light-years away, massive galaxy cluster Abell 370 only appears to be dominated by two giant elliptical galaxies and infested with faint arcs in this sharp Hubble Space Telescope snapshot. The fainter, scattered bluish arcs along with the
dramatic dragon arc below and left of center are images of galaxies that lie far beyond Abell 370. About twice as distant, their otherwise undetected light is magnified and distorted by the cluster's enormous gravitational mass, dominated by unseen
dark matter. Providing a
tantalizing glimpse of galaxies in the early universe, the effect is known as gravitational
lensing. A consequence of warped
spacetime it was first predicted by Einstein a century ago. Far beyond the spiky foreground Milky Way star at lower right, Abell 370 is seen toward the constellation Cetus, the Sea Monster. It is the last of six
galaxy clusters imaged in the recently concluded
Frontier Fields project.
No comments:
Post a Comment