Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have captured a remarkable new image of the galaxy cluster Abell S1063.
This Webb image shows the massive galaxy cluster Abell S1063. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / H. Atek & M. Zamani, ESA & Webb / R. Endsley.
Abell S1063 is a massive cluster of galaxies located around 4.5 billion light-years away in the constellation of Grus.
The cluster contains approximately 100 million-million solar masses, and contains 51 confirmed galaxies and perhaps over 400 more.
The huge mass of Abell S1063 distorts and magnifies the light from galaxies that lie behind it due to an effect called gravitational lensing.
“Looking more closely, this dense collection of heavy galaxies is surrounded by glowing streaks of light, and these warped arcs are the true object of our interest: faint galaxies from the Universe’s distant past,” the Webb astronomers said in a statement.
“Abell S1063 was previously observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Frontier Fields program.”
“It features a strong gravitational lens: the galaxy cluster is so massive that the light of distant galaxies aligned behind it is bent around it, creating the warped arcs that we see here.”
“Like a glass lens, it focuses the light from these faraway galaxies.”
“The resulting images, albeit distorted, are both bright and magnified — enough to be observed and studied.”
“This was the aim of Hubble’s observations, using the galaxy cluster as a magnifying glass to investigate the early Universe.”
The new image of Abell S1063 was captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam).
“This image showcases an incredible forest of lensing arcs around Abell S1063, which reveal distorted background galaxies at a range of cosmic distances, along with a multitude of faint galaxies and previously unseen features,” the researchers said.
“This image is what’s known as a deep field — a long exposure of a single area of the sky, collecting as much light as possible to draw out the most faint and distant galaxies that don’t appear in ordinary images.”
“With 9 separate snapshots of different near-infrared wavelengths of light, totaling around 120 hours of observing time and aided by the magnifying effect of gravitational lensing, this is Webb’s deepest gaze on a single target to date.”
“Focusing such observing power on a massive gravitational lens, like Abell S1063, therefore has the potential to reveal some of the very first galaxies formed in the early Universe.”
English