Galaxy Cluster Gravitational Lens

Astronomers observing the cluster of galaxies Abell 370, noticed an unusual arc that wasn’t understood until better images showed that the arc was a type of astrophysical artifact of a gravitational lens.

Today, we know that this arc, the brightest arc in the cluster, actually consists of two distorted images of a fairly normal galaxy that happens to lie far in the distance. Abell 370’s gravity caused the background galaxies’ light — and others — to spread out and come to the observer along multiple paths, not unlike a distant light appears through the stem of a wine glass. Almost all of the yellow images featured here are galaxies in the Abell 370 cluster. An astute eye can pick up many strange arcs and distorted arclets, however, that are actually gravitationally lensed images of distant normal galaxies. Studying Abell 370 and its images gives astronomers a unique window into the distribution of normal and dark matter in galaxy clusters and the universe.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (DeepSkyColors.com)

source APOD