(See description below)
Abell 383 Galaxy Cluster—Gavitational LensThe
heart of a vast cluster of galaxies called Abell 383 is shown in this
image, taken in visible and near-infrared light by the NASA/ESA Hubble
Space Telescope.
The galaxy cluster is so massive that its
gravity distorts, brightens, and magnifies light from more distant
objects behind it, an effect called gravitational lensing. The small
white box at left marks the location of an exploding star called a
supernova, located behind the cluster.
An enlarged view of the
supernova, nicknamed Tiberius after the first century Roman emperor, is
shown in the furthest right inset image, taken in January 2011. The
arrow pinpoints the supernova's location. The bright material beneath
it is part of the host galaxy. The supernova is seen as it appeared 8
billion years ago.
The inset image on the left, taken in November 2010, shows the same region before the supernova blast.
Both inset images were taken in visible light with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys.
The
supernova is one of three exploding stars discovered in the Cluster
Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH), and was followed up
as part of a Supernova Cosmology Project HST program. CLASH is a Hubble
census that probed the distribution of dark matter in 25 galaxy
clusters. Dark matter cannot be seen directly but is believed to make
up most of the universe's matter.
The image of the galaxy
cluster was taken between November 2010 and February 2011 by Hubble's
Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys.
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