Two galaxies create an eye-popping optical illusion for Hubble
When is a quasar not just a quasar? When it's four (technically, five) views of the same quasar, of course.
Our latest Hubble image drop from NASA is a real treat. See that big shiny pool of light in the center? The one with the halo around it, and four pinpricks of light in the halo? That whole, beautiful mess is an optical illusion that's a product of Earth's specific position in the cosmos and the way light travels, and bends, through space.
Let's pull this apart. The bright center of that halo is, if you look closely, actually two bright spots that appear so close together they almost look like one. They're two galaxies, and they only look like they're bumping into each other because of our perspective from Earth.
The two galaxies, which NASA doesn't identify, are also in the foreground of this image (aka they're closer to Earth than the quasar). That's the key to this illusion. Galaxies are extremely large celestial bodies that are held together by immense gravitational forces. When light passes through these areas, its path is warped by that pull. It's a phenomenon called gravitational lensing.
Light traveling through space is how we see any of the space objects in the above image. So when the warped fabric of space distorts that light, it can produce some unusual effects.
In this case, gravitational lensing caused by the two foreground galaxies creates extra, illusory pinpricks of light in the final image. The four spots of light in the halo are all the same, single quasar, just magnified and bent around the gravitational exertions of the two galaxies. There's also a fifth point, according to NASA, right in the dead center of that mass, that's also another view of the same quasar.
(A quasar, short for "quasi-stellar radio source," is an extremely distant and bright young galaxy. They're more numerous at the edges of our visible universe.)
This image, like so many of Hubble's best, is brought to use by Wide Field Camera 3, which was installed in 2009. The aging orbital telescope will soon have some younger, more technologically advanced company in orbit, when NASA launches the James Webb Space Telescope in October.
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Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
