A large, spacetime-warping cluster of galaxies is the setting of in the present day’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope picture. The galaxy cluster in query is Abell 209, situated 2.8 billion light-years away within the constellation Cetus (the Whale).
This Hubble picture of Abell 209 exhibits greater than 100 galaxies, however there’s extra to this cluster than even Hubble’s discerning eye can see. Abell 209’s galaxies are separated by thousands and thousands of light-years, and the seemingly empty area between the galaxies is full of sizzling, diffuse gasoline that’s seen solely at X-ray wavelengths. An much more elusive occupant of this galaxy cluster is dark matter: a type of matter that doesn’t work together with mild. Darkish matter doesn’t take in, mirror, or emit mild, successfully making it invisible to us. Astronomers detect darkish matter by its gravitational affect on regular matter. Astronomers surmise that the universe is comprised of 5% regular matter, 25% darkish matter, and 70% darkish vitality.
Hubble observations, like those used to create this picture, will help astronomers reply elementary questions on our universe, together with mysteries surrounding darkish matter and darkish vitality. These investigations leverage the immense mass of a galaxy cluster, which might bend the material of spacetime itself and create warped and magnified photos of background galaxies and stars in a course of known as gravitational lensing.
Whereas this picture lacks the dramatic rings that gravitational lensing can generally create, Abell 209 nonetheless exhibits refined indicators of lensing at work, within the type of streaky, barely curved galaxies inside the cluster’s golden glow. By measuring the distortion of those galaxies, astronomers can map the distribution of mass inside the cluster, illuminating the underlying cloud of darkish matter. This data, which Hubble’s tremendous decision and delicate devices assist to offer, is crucial for testing theories of how our universe advanced.
Textual content Credit score: ESA/Hubble
Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD