It’s not everyday that you observe at least two galaxy clusters merging, but NASA / ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope did just that 8 billion light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. After merging, these galaxy clusters will form a single massive cluster that would act as a gravitational lens, or the phenomenon in which the path of light around an object is visibly bent as if by a vast lens.
Gravitational lensing can also distort the images of background galaxies, transforming them into streaks of light. The first signs of gravitational lensing can be viewed in this image as bright arcs which mingle with the cluster of galaxies in eMACS J1353.7+4329. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys were used to observe these five galaxy clusters at multiple wavelengths.
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These multi-wavelength observations were made possible by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys. The astronomers behind these observations hope to lay the groundwork for future studies of vast gravitational lenses with next-generation telescopes such as the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope,” said the ESA.
