Gravitational lensing by galaxy in cluster IRC 0218

Esahubble_opo1433b_1024

esahubble_opo1433b August 4th, 2014

Credit: NASA, ESA, K.-V. Tran (Texas A&M University), and K. Wong (Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics)

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the most distant cosmic lens yet found, a massive elliptical galaxy whose powerful gravity is magnifying the light from a faraway galaxy behind it. The giant elliptical is one of the red objects in the top left of the image, identified in the annotated version. The galaxy is seen as it appeared 9.6 billion years ago and is one of the brightest members in a distant cluster of galaxies, called IRC 0218. It is so massive that its enormous gravitational field deflects light passing through it, much as an optical lens bends light to form an image. This phenomenon, called gravitational lensing, magnifies, brightens, and distorts images from faraway objects that might otherwise be too faint to observe even with the largest telescopes. The image was made by combining visible-light observations from the Advanced Camera for Surveys and near-infrared exposures from the Wide Field Camera 3. Links: NASA Press release Gravitational Lensing by Galaxy in Cluster IRC 0218(annotated) IRC 0218 Lensing Feature IRC 0218 Lensing Feature Without Foreground Cluster

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo1433b/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, None, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
IRC 0218
Subject - Distant Universe
Galaxy > Type > Elliptical
Galaxy > Type > Gravitationally Lensed
Cosmology > Phenomenon > Lensing
Esahubble_opo1433b_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 2h 18m 20.6s
DEC = -5° 10’ 22.7”
Orientation
North is 27.3° CW
Field of View
1.0 x 0.7 arcminutes
Constellation
Cetus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (H) 1.6 µm
Red Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (J) 1.3 µm
Red Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (Z) 1.1 µm
Green Hubble (ACS) Optical (I) 814.0 nm
Blue Hubble (ACS) Optical (g) 475.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Red
Red
Green
Blue
Esahubble_opo1433b_1280
×
ID
opo1433b
Subject Category
D.5.1.4   D.5.1.8   D.6.2.1  
Subject Name
IRC 0218
Credits
NASA, ESA, K.-V. Tran (Texas A&M University), and K. Wong (Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics)
Release Date
2014-08-04T09:12:53
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo1433b/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFC3, WFC3, WFC3, ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Red, Red, Red, Green, Blue
Band
Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
H, J, Z, I, g
Central Wavelength
1600, 1250, 1050, 814, 475
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None, None, None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
34.5857796415, -5.17298436249
Reference Dimension
2000.0, 1372.0
Reference Pixel
1000.0, 686.0
Scale
-8.5513586969e-06, 8.5513586969e-06
Rotation
-27.29999999999999
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
None
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
opo1433b
Metadata Date
2014-07-15T12:12:57-04:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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