Credit: ESA/Hubble & & NASA, E. Wuyts
This star- and galaxy-studded image was recorded by Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), utilizing data that were collected for scientific functions. The things of interest was a galaxy that shows up in the bottom left corner of the image, named SGAS 0033 +02. What makes this specific galaxy interesting is a little uncommon– it appears not simply when in this image, however 3 times. The thrice-visible galaxy is a little challenging to spot: it appears once as a curved arc simply to the upper right of the really brilliant star, and twice more as little round dots above the star and to the right of the star respectively.
SGAS 0033 +02s numerous appearances in the exact same image are not the outcome of a mistake, but rather are because of an exceptional phenomenon referred to as gravitational lensing. Gravitational lensing occurs when the light from a very remote galaxy– such as SGAS 0033 +02– is curved (or lensed) by the gravity of a huge celestial things that depends on the foreground, between the distant galaxy and the Earth. SGAS 0033 +02 was discovered by its namesake, the Sloan Giant Arcs Survey (SGAS), which aimed to identify extremely magnified galaxies that were gravitationally lensed by foreground galaxy clusters. Due to the fact that of its highly uncommon proximity in the sky to a very bright star, SGAS 0033 +02 is of unique interest. The star works, due to the fact that it can be used to adjust and fix observations of the lensed SGAS 0033 +02.
By ESA/Hubble
November 21, 2021