![]() ![]() The UNCOVER team used Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) to capture the cluster with exposures lasting 4–6 hours, for a total of about 30 hours of observing time. In the lensing core to the lower right in the Webb image, which has never been imaged by Hubble, Webb revealed hundreds of distant lensed galaxies that appear like faint arced lines in the image. Bartmann (ESA/Webb) Music: Stellardrone-Twilight Labbe (Swinburne University of Technology), R. The concentration of mass is so great that the fabric of spacetime is warped by gravity, creating a natural, super-magnifying glass called a 'gravitational lens' that astronomers can use to see very distant sources of light beyond the cluster that would otherwise be undetectable, even to Webb. Bright white sources surrounded by a hazy glow are the galaxies of Pandora's Cluster, a conglomeration of already-massive clusters of galaxies coming together to form a mega cluster. A foreground star in our own galaxy, to the right of the image center, displays Webb's distinctive diffraction spikes. Their light has traveled through various distances to reach the telescope's detectors, representing the vastness of space in a single image. The galaxy cluster "lens" is so massive that it warps the fabric of space itself, enough for light from distant galaxies that passes through that warped space to also take on a warped appearance.Īstronomers estimate 50,000 sources of near-infrared light are represented in this image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. In addition to magnification, gravitational lensing distorts the appearance of distant galaxies, so they look very different from those in the foreground. The new view of Pandora's Cluster stitches four Webb snapshots together into one panoramic image, displaying roughly 50 000 sources of near-infrared light. By combining Webb's powerful infrared instruments with a broad mosaic view of the region's multiple areas of lensing, astronomers aimed to achieve a balance of breadth and depth that will open up a new frontier in the study of cosmology and galaxy evolution.Īstronomers studied the region as part of the Ultradeep NIRSpec and NIRCam ObserVations before the Epoch of Reionization (UNCOVER) program. Only Pandora's central core has previously been studied in detail by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The combined mass of the galaxy clusters creates a powerful gravitational lens, a natural magnification effect of gravity, allowing much more distant galaxies in the early universe to be observed by using the cluster like a magnifying glass. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |