(click on image to enlarge)
From NASA/ ESA, July 2, 2018: This busy image is a treasure trove of wonders. Bright stars from the Milky Way sparkle in the foreground, the magnificent swirls of several spiral galaxies are visible across the frame, and a glowing assortment of objects at the centre make up a massive galaxy cluster. Such clusters are the biggest objects in the Universe that are held together by gravity, and can contain thousands of galaxies of all shapes and sizes. Typically, they have a mass of about one million billion times the mass of the Sun — unimaginably huge!
Their incredible mass makes clusters very useful natural tools to test theories in astronomy, such as Einstein’s theory of general relativity. This tells us that objects with mass warp the fabric of spacetime around them; the more massive the object, the greater the distortion. An enormous galaxy cluster like this one therefore has a huge influence on the spacetime around it, even distorting the light from more distant galaxies to change a galaxy’s apparent shape, creating multiple images, and amplifying the galaxy’s light — a phenomenon called gravitational lensing.
This image was taken by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide-Field Camera 3 as part of an observing programme called RELICS (Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey). RELICS imaged 41 massive galaxy clusters with the aim of finding the brightest distant galaxies for the forthcoming NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to study.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, RELICS
5 comments:
It's so incredible to realize that we're such a tiny part of this universe. Thanks again, Hackie!
A drop in an infinite ocean. You're welcome as always, Diva!
I love the photos of space. They're reassuring somehow, like a peaceful reminder that there is still beauty out there.
Did anyone else see the 60 Minutes episode last night that showed the Voyager as it continues through space? I got choked up, because the Voyager project, a gesture of exploration and knowlege and even friendship, will continue to travel across the galaxy long after we're gone. Our cell phones have a hundred times the technological capabilites of the Voyager, yet it has continued to go full speed ahead since the 1970's. And now you can buy a replica of the gold disc that is a greeting to whatever life forms it could meet, and a time capsule as well.
We once did great things.
I wholeheartedly agree with Diva and donnah. And we can do great things again, IF WE GET OUT AND VOTE! P.E.C.
donnah and Ms. Cake -- yes, we once did great things, and we have to believe we can do them again. These are the most challenging times in my life (and I've been around a long time), but rising to challenges is what made us great as a people. We must believe that turning things around will be the challenge of OUR time in history, and that we will see it to ultimate victory by being as relentless and resourceful as the forces trying to drag us back into the darkness.
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