Hubble stars overlay over light fixtures11/16/2023 Smaller objects, like individual stars, can also act as gravitational lenses when they pass in front of more distant stars. Lotz and the HFF Team (STScI) News Release: 2017-20 > Astronomers chose Abell 370 as a target for Hubble because its gravitational lensing effects can be used for probing remote galaxies that inhabited the early universe. The most stunning example is "the Dragon," an extended feature that is probably several duplicated images of a single background spiral galaxy stretched along an arc. Nearly 100 distant galaxies have multiple images caused by the lensing effect. Instead, the gravity from the cluster acts as a huge lens in space that magnifies and stretches images of background galaxies like a funhouse mirror. These far-flung galaxies are too faint for Hubble to see directly. These are actually distorted images of remote galaxies behind the cluster. Entangled among the galaxies are mysterious-looking arcs of blue light. Galaxy cluster Abell 370, located about 4 billion light-years away, contains an astounding assortment of several hundred galaxies tied together by the mutual pull of gravity. It allows researchers to study the details of early galaxies too far away to be seen with current technology and telescopes. The effect is like looking through a giant magnifying glass. A gravitational lens can occur when a huge amount of matter, like a cluster of galaxies, creates a gravitational field that distorts and magnifies the light from distant galaxies that are behind it but in the same line of sight. Einstein’s general theory of relativity describes how mass concentrations distort the space around them. When taken to the extreme, gravity can create some intriguing visual effects that Hubble’s is well suited to observing. Four Successful Women Behind the Hubble Space Telescope's Achievements.Characterizing Planets Around Other Stars.Measuring the Universe's Expansion Rate.
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