A new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope demonstrates the immense effects of gravity; more specifically, it shows the effects of gravitational lensing caused by SDSS J1152+3313, an enormous galaxy cluster in the constellation of Ursa Major, approximately 4 billion light-years away.
This image, taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), shows the giant galaxy cluster SDSS J1152+3313. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.
Albert Einstein predicted in his theory of general relativity that massive objects will deform the fabric of space itself. When light passes one of these objects, such as a cluster of galaxies, its path is changed slightly.
Called gravitational lensing, this effect is only visible in rare cases and only the best telescopes can observe the related phenomena.
Hubble’s sensitivity and high resolution allow it to see faint and distant gravitational lenses that cannot be detected with ground-based telescopes whose images are blurred by the atmosphere of our planet.
Acting as a ‘natural telescope’ in space, the gravity of SDSS J1152+3313 magnifies, brightens, and distorts a distant starburst galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.
Gravitational lenses — such as SDSS J1152+3313 — possess immense masses that bend the light from faraway objects into rings, arcs, streaks, blurs, and other odd shapes.
This lens, however, is not only wrapping the appearance of a distant galaxy — it is also amplifying its light, making it appear much brighter than it would be without the lens.
Combined with the high image quality obtainable with Hubble, this gives valuable clues into how stars formed in the early Universe.
