There is something odd about this image. If you look closely, you can see a pair of orange-colored galaxies.
That's not a pair of galaxies at all, but a single one. The space that distant light travels through is distorted by the gravity of a large object.
Imagine putting a heavy weight on a trampoline with a trampoline mat that represents space time. Marbles can be rolled from one side of the trampoline to the other. Their normally straight paths will seem to curve along different paths.
This quirk of gravity can be used to amplify the light of background galaxies that are too far away to see in a lot of detail.
The illustration is by NASA and L. Calada.
This is a lens that can be used to understand the distant universe.
The recent deep field image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows that sometimes the light can become distorted. The weird, wobbly, worm-like objects are part of the universe. An Einstein Cross is the result of four images of a distant object arrayed around the central lensing mass.
With the added bonus of making them both appear bigger and in greater detail, it is possible to get two nearly perfect images of the galaxy.
Around 6.9 billion years ago, the light from the SGAS was able to reach us. The current age of the Universe is about 50 years old. The light traveled a long time.
There are mirrored images of a lens. J. Rigby is from theESA/Hubble.
Due to the high star formation activity, the galaxy is glowing relatively bright. It can help scientists understand star formation and how it has changed throughout the Universe's history by studying galaxies like it.
Scientists were able to reconstruct the distribution of star formation with the help of the lens. They found that the galaxy is typical of its type, which will allow them to better understand other galaxies.
Hubble changed the way the study of lensed galaxies is done. Its observations gave scientists a new glimpse into the early Universe.
There is an image on the Hubble website.
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