A smiling lens

Esahubble_potw1506a_1024

esahubble_potw1506a February 9th, 2015

Credit: NASA & ESA Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.org)

In the centre of this image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, are two faint galaxies that seem to be smiling. You can make out two orange eyes and a white button nose. In the case of this happy face, the two eyes are the galaxies SDSSCGB 8842.3 and SDSSCGB 8842.4and the misleading smile lines are actually arcs caused by an effect known as strong gravitational lensing. Massive structures in the Universe exert such a powerful gravitational pull that they can warp the spacetime around them and act as cosmic lenses which can magnify, distort and bend the light behind them. This phenomenon, crucial to many of Hubbles discoveries, can be explained by Einsteins theory of general relativity. In this special case of gravitational lensing, a ring known as an Einstein Ring is produced from this bending of light, a consequence of the exact and symmetrical alignment of the source, lens and observer and resulting in the ring-like structure we see here. Hubble has provided astronomers with the tools to probe these massive galaxies and model their lensing effects, allowing us to peer further into the early Universe than ever before. This object was studied by Hubbles Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) and WideField Camera 3 (WFC3) as part of a survey of strong lenses. A version of this image was entered into the Hubbles Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Judy Schmidt.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1506a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
SDSSCGB 8842.3 SDSSCGB 8842.4
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Gravitationally Lensed
Galaxy > Grouping > Cluster
Esahubble_potw1506a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 10h 38m 43.2s
DEC = 48° 49’ 18.2”
Orientation
North is 12.4° CW
Field of View
1.3 x 1.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Ursa Major

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (YJ) 1.1 µm
Blue Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (B) 450.0 nm
Cyan Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (V) 606.0 nm
Orange Hubble (WFPC2) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Blue
Cyan
Orange
Esahubble_potw1506a_1280
×
ID
potw1506a
Subject Category
C.5.1.8   C.5.5.3  
Subject Name
SDSSCGB 8842.3, SDSSCGB 8842.4
Credits
NASA & ESA Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.org)
Release Date
2015-02-09T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1506a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFC3, WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Red, Blue, Cyan, Orange
Band
Infrared, Optical, Optical, Infrared
Bandpass
YJ, B, V, I
Central Wavelength
1100, 450, 606, 814
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
159.679809776, 48.8217206721
Reference Dimension
758.0, 748.0
Reference Pixel
379.0, 374.0
Scale
-2.76504632256e-05, 2.76504632256e-05
Rotation
-12.41999999999997
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
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
potw1506a
Metadata Date
2014-11-04T12:27:53+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In