File:Cosmic seahorse (52777397541).jpg
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DescriptionCosmic seahorse (52777397541).jpg |
Warped tour…of space? ✨ See those strange arcs and streaks in this new Webb image? They’re actually distant galaxies, magnified and warped due to an effect called gravitational lensing. This effect occurs when an object — here, a foreground galaxy cluster — has such a massive gravitational pull that it warps time and space around it. Light follows that bend instead of traveling in a straight line, distorting and brightening what’s behind the object. Because it magnifies distant objects that would otherwise be too faint or far away, gravitational lensing is a useful tool for astronomers. One example in this image is a galaxy known as the Cosmic Seahorse, seen as a long distorted arc in the lower right quadrant. Its brightness is greatly magnified by the gravitational lens, allowing astronomers to study star formation there. Read more: esawebb.org/images/potm2303a/ Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Rigby Image description: Many small galaxies are scattered on a black background: mainly white, oval-shaped and red, spiral galaxies. To the lower right is a galaxy cluster, with a very large and bright elliptical galaxy at its center. Thin, reddish, stretched-out arcs surround it. One arc is thick and much brighter. Another red galaxy is large and warped, just next to the cluster core. |
Date | |
Source | Cosmic seahorse |
Author | NASA's James Webb Space Telescope from Greenbelt, MD, USA |
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This image was originally posted to Flickr by James Webb Space Telescope at https://flickr.com/photos/50785054@N03/52777397541. It was reviewed on 6 June 2023 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0. |
6 June 2023
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Date and time of data generation | 06:00, 28 March 2023 |
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Short title | Cosmic seahorse |
Credit/Provider | ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Rigby |
Source | ESA/Webb |
Image title | Streaks of light and bright arcs betray the presence of a vast gravitational lens in this image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. A galaxy cluster in the foreground has magnified distant galaxies, warping their shapes and creating the bright smears of light spread throughout this image. This effect, referred to by astronomers as gravitational lensing, occurs when a massive celestial object such as a galaxy cluster causes a sufficient curvature of spacetime for light to be visibly bent around it, as if by a gargantuan lens. One of the consequential effects of gravitational lensing is that it can magnify distant astronomical objects, letting astronomers study objects that would otherwise be too faint or far away. This useful quirk of gravitational lensing has also been used to reveal some of the most distant galaxies humanity has ever encountered. The long, bright, and distorted arc spreading out near the core is one such example. A distant galaxy known as the Cosmic Seahorse, its brightness is greatly magnified by the gravitational lens, which has enabled astronomers to study star formation there. This image was captured by NIRCam, Webb’s primary near-infrared camera, and contains the lensing galaxy cluster SDSS J1226+2149. It lies at a distance of around 6.3 billion light-years from Earth, in the constellation Coma Berenices. By combining Webb’s sensitivity with the magnifying effect of gravitational lensing, astronomers were able to use this gravitational lens to explore the earliest stages of star formation in distant galaxies. To do so, they relied on earlier studies by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which provided the ‘prescription’ for this gravitational lens. This image shows only one observation from a programme designed to probe star formation in distant galaxies. As well as revealing how quickly stars form and characterising the environments in these galaxies that gave rise to new stars, these observations will demonstrate t |
Publisher | ESA/Webb |
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JPEG file comment | Streaks of light and bright arcs betray the presence of a vast gravitational lens in this image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. A galaxy cluster in the foreground has magnified distant galaxies, warping their shapes and creating the bright smears of light spread throughout this image. This effect, referred to by astronomers as gravitational lensing, occurs when a massive celestial object such as a galaxy cluster causes a sufficient curvature of spacetime for light to be visibly bent around it, as if by a gargantuan lens. One of the consequential effects of gravitational lensing is that it can magnify distant astronomical objects, letting astronomers study objects that would otherwise be too faint or far away. This useful quirk of gravitational lensing has also been used to reveal some of the most distant galaxies humanity has ever encountered. The long, bright, and distorted arc spreading out near the core is one such example. A distant galaxy known as the Cosmic Seahorse, its brightness is greatly magnified by the gravitational lens, which has enabled astronomers to study star formation there. This image was captured by NIRCam, Webb’s primary near-infrared camera, and contains the lensing galaxy cluster SDSS J1226+2149. It lies at a distance of around 6.3 billion light-years from Earth, in the constellation Coma Berenices. By combining Webb’s sensitivity with the magnifying effect of gravitational lensing, astronomers were able to use this gravitational lens to explore the earliest stages of star formation in distant galaxies. To do so, they relied on earlier studies by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which provided the ‘prescription’ for this gravitational lens. This image shows only one observation from a programme designed to probe star formation in distant galaxies. As well as revealing how quickly stars form and characterising the environments in these galaxies that gave rise to new stars, these observations will demonstrate the capabilities of Webb and provide richly detailed datasets to the astronomical community. Astronomers expect Webb’s crystal-clear vision and cutting-edge instruments to provide new insights into star formation in distant, gravitationally lensed galaxies. [Image description: Many small galaxies are scattered on a black background: mainly, white, oval-shaped and red, spiral galaxies. To the lower right is a galaxy cluster, with a very large and bright elliptical galaxy at its centre. Thin, reddish, stretched-out arcs surround it. One arc is thick and much brighter. Another red galaxy is large and warped, just next to the cluster core.] Links Pan of the cosmic seahorse Zoom into the cosmic seahorse |
Orientation | Normal |
Horizontal resolution | 25.4 dpi |
Vertical resolution | 25.4 dpi |
Software used | Adobe Photoshop 24.2 (Windows) |
File change date and time | 01:32, 17 March 2023 |
Y and C positioning | Centered |
Exif version | 2.32 |
Date and time of digitizing | 11:14, 8 February 2023 |
Meaning of each component |
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Supported Flashpix version | 1 |
Color space | Uncalibrated |
IIM version | 4 |
Keywords |
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Bits per component |
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Compression scheme | Uncompressed |
Height | 2,756 px |
Width | 4,410 px |
Pixel composition | RGB |
Number of components | 3 |
Contact information |
ESA Office, Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr Baltimore, MD, 21218 United States |
Type of media | Observation |
Date metadata was last modified | 02:32, 17 March 2023 |
Unique ID of original document | xmp.did:d83dcee4-347c-b84c-8701-92fa9c2de3fc |