Galaxy cluster MACS j1149.5+223 and a supernova four times over
This image shows the huge galaxy cluster MACS J1149+2223, whose light took over 5 billion years to reach us.
The huge mass of the cluster and one of the galaxies within it is bending the light from a supernova behind them and creating four separate images of it. The light has been magnified and distorted due to gravitational lensing and as a result the images are arranged around the elliptical galaxy in a formation known as an Einstein cross.
A close-up of the Einstein cross is shown in the inset.
Credit:NASA, ESA, S. Rodney (John Hopkins University, USA) and the FrontierSN team; T. Treu (University of California Los Angeles, USA), P. Kelly (University of California Berkeley, USA) and the GLASS team; J. Lotz (STScI) and the Frontier Fields team; M. Postman (STScI) and the CLASH team; and Z. Levay (STScI)
About the Image
| Id: | heic1505a |
| Type: | Collage |
| Release date: | 5 March 2015, 20:00 |
| Related releases: | heic1505 |
| Size: | 1176 x 1169 px |
About the Object
| Name: | MACS J1149+2223 |
| Type: | Early Universe : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Supernova Early Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster |
| Category: | Galaxies Stars |
Wallpapers
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
|---|---|---|
| Optical | 606 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
| Infrared I | 814 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
| Infrared Y | 1.05 μm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
| Infrared J | 1.25 μm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
| Infrared J | 1.4 μm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
| Infrared H | 1.6 μm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |