Hubble image archive
Gravitational Lens Creates Cartoon of Space Invader
The gravitational field surrounding this massive cluster of galaxies, Abell 68, acts as a natural lens in space to brighten and magnify the light coming from very distant background galaxies.Like a funhouse mirror, lensing creates a fantasy landscape of arc-like images and mirror...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2013
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2013-09-3152-image
The gravitational field surrounding this massive cluster of galaxies, Abell 68, acts as a natural lens in space to brighten and magnify the light coming from very distant background galaxies.
Like a funhouse mirror, lensing creates a fantasy landscape of arc-like images and mirror images of background galaxies. The foreground cluster is 2 billion light-years away, and the lensed images come from galaxies far behind it.
In this photo, the image of a spiral galaxy at upper left has been stretched and mirrored into a shape similar to that of a simulated alien from the classic 1970s computer game Space Invaders! A second, less distorted image of the same galaxy appears to the left of the large, bright elliptical galaxy.
In the upper right of the photo is another striking feature of the image that is unrelated to gravitational lensing. What appears to be purple liquid dripping from a galaxy is a phenomenon called ram-pressure stripping. The gas clouds within the galaxy are being stripped out and heated up as the galaxy passes through a region of denser intergalactic gas.
This image was taken in infrared light by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, and combined with near-infrared observations from Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys.
The image is based in part on data spotted by Nick Rose in the Hubble's Hidden Treasures image processing competition.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage/ESA-Hubble Collaboration;Acknowledgment: N. Rose
Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Abell 68 |
| Object Description | Galaxy Cluster and Gravitational Lens |
| R.A. Position | 00h 36m 59.4s |
| Dec. Position | 09° 8' 30.05" |
| Constellation | Vulpecula |
| Distance | 2.1 billion light-years (644 million parsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The image was created from Hubble data from proposal : J.P. Kneib (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille) and collaborators. |
| Instrument | HST>ACS/WFC and HST>WFC3/IR |
| Exposure Dates | October 18, 2010 and November 14, 2010 |
| Filters | WFC3/UVIS: F814W (I) WFC3/IR: F110W (YJ) and F160W (H) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the ACS and WFC3 instruments. Several filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F814W (I) Green: F110W (YJ) Red: F160W (H) |
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Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
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