November 2, 2024

Hubble Space Telescope Captures a “Five-Star” Rated Gravitational Lens

The Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of galaxy cluster SDSS J1004 +4112 as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The image is the first-ever image of a single distant quasar lensed into five images and also reveals a rich abundance of banana-like arcs from provides background galaxies and even a supernova. Credit: European Space Agency, NASA, Keren Sharon (Tel-Aviv University) and Eran Ofek (CalTech).
This full-size Hubble image reveals galaxy cluster SDSS J1004 +4112 that was discovered as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. It is one of the more distant clusters understood (seven billion light-years, redshift z= 0.68), and is seen when the Universe was half its present age. The image is the first-ever photo of a single distant quasar lensed into 5 images and also reveals a rich abundance of banana-like arcs from provides background galaxies and even a supernova. 4 of the five quasar images are viewed as star-like images surrounding the center of the cluster. The 5th quasar image is embedded to the right of the core of the main galaxy in the cluster.

By ESA/Hubble
March 20, 2022