Data from NASA’s “warrior” Hubble has unveiled stunning images of a colossal magnifying glass, created by galaxies and galaxy clusters.
According to Space.com, astronomers have discovered 7 distant galaxies aligned with a foreground galaxy cluster. Together, they form one of the most unique galaxy configurations ever known.
The mysterious structure of 7 galaxies distorted by a foreground galaxy cluster – (Image: NASA/UCLA).
In the images captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and analyzed by scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Berkeley Laboratory (USA), and several other institutions, we cannot see the 7 distant galaxies in a normal way.
They are bent, twisted, and strangely blended.
This is because we are viewing them through a colossal magnifying glass, which is a galaxy cluster blocking the line of sight between us and the aforementioned 7 galaxies.
Known as “Carousel Lens,” the assembly of distorted galaxies and the foreground galaxy cluster contains a structure called “Einstein’s Cross.” This refers to the repeated views of the same galaxy within the same image as a consequence of general relativity.
Additionally, some galaxies appear to be “replicated” into multiple galaxies at different positions, contributing to the uniqueness of the structural cluster.
Seven galaxies marked from 1-7 with “originals” and “copies” represented by characters a, b, c… – (Image: NASA/UCLA).
Among them, the foreground galaxy cluster is referred to as “gravitational lens.” Its immense gravitational force has warped space-time, causing light from the 7 galaxies behind not to travel to Earth in a normal manner.
The result is that the background galaxies are not only magnified but also warped into bizarre shapes.
According to the research team from UCLA, this discovery could help solve some of the most pressing mysteries in cosmology.
Researchers indicate that these unique 7 galaxies are located at distances ranging from 7.6 billion to 12 billion light-years from Earth.
This distance is close to the observable universe’s limit of 13.8 billion years, meaning we cannot see beyond this region even with the most advanced telescopes, as the universe is expanding and the space beyond that limit is “running away” from us at high speed.
Discovering structures distorted by “invisible forces” also provides astronomers with additional data about other mysterious factors in the universe.
“This is an unprecedented discovery, and the computational model produced shows very promising prospects for measuring the characteristics of the universe, including dark matter and dark energy” – Dr. Xiaosheng Huang, a member of the research team, concluded.
