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The Universe
Spiritual Awakening
Beauty
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| Gravity Lense
Gravity can bend light, allowing huge clusters of galaxies to act as telescopes.
Almost all of the bright objects in this Hubble Space Telescope image are galaxies in
the cluster known as Abell 2218. The cluster is so massive and so compact that its
gravity bends and focuses the light from galaxies that lie behind it. As a result,
multiple images of these background galaxies are distorted into long faint arcs -- a simple
lensing effect analogous to viewing distant street lamps through a glass of wine.
The cluster of galaxies Abell 2218 is itself about three billion light-years away in
the northern constellation of the Dragon (Draco). The power of this massive cluster telescope
has allowed astronomers to detect a galaxy at redshift 5.58, the most distant
galaxy yet measured. This young, still-maturing galaxy is faintly visible to the lower right
of the cluster core.Astronomy Picture of the Day
2008 February 10
CREDITS: Andrew Fruchter (STScI) et al., WFPC2, HST, NASA
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