New Hubble Space Telescope photos give us a deep look into a distant part of the universe
A cosmic lens is giving scientists a glimpse at distant galaxies never observed before.
A new photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope reveals a beautiful galaxy cluster with so much mass that it actually magnifies the light of the more distant galaxies behind it. This "gravitational lens" allows the Hubble to see far-away galaxies usually invisible to humanity.
The gravitational lens "allows Hubble to see galaxies that would otherwise be too faint to observe and makes it possible to search for, and study, the very first generation of galaxies in the Universe," Hubble public affairs said in a statement.
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The lens, produced by the Abell S1063 cluster, has already led to some surprising results, revealing a galaxy that likely formed just 1 billion years after the Big Bang -- the universe-creating event that happened about 14 billion years ago.
The new photo is part of Hubble's three-year "Frontier Fields" program. The images taken during these observing runs will give astronomers a better-than-ever look at various parts of the distant universe thanks to six galaxy clusters helping to magnify faint galaxies.
And this deep-look photo holds some beautiful surprises.
The galaxy cluster seems to be filled with a hodgepodge of different types of galaxies that would all be worthy of study on their own.
Just breaking up the image into one small chunk reveals dozens of galaxies with spiral arms, bright cores or even just elliptical blobs.
You can use Hubble's zoomable image to check out all of the details in the new photo.
This cosmic lens used by the Hubble has actually revealed a total of 16 far-off galaxies, with light bent by the massive galaxy cluster in the foreground producing duplicated images of the galaxies from the telescope's perspective, the statement says.
Studying these duplicate images "will help astronomers to improve their models of the distribution of both ordinary and dark matter in the galaxy cluster, as it is the gravity from these that causes the distorting effects," according to the statement.
"These models are key to understanding the mysterious nature of dark matter."
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Miriam Kramer worked as a staff writer for Space.com for about 2.5 years before joining Mashable to cover all things outer space. She took a ride in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight and watched rockets launch to space from places around the United States. Miriam received her Master's degree in science, health and environmental reporting from New York University in 2012, and she originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee. Follow Miriam on Twitter at @mirikramer.
