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> Gravitational lenses in Abell 1689 galaxy cluster
Gravitational lenses in Abell 1689 galaxy cluster
author: Nasa/Stsci/Novapix
reference: a-amg90-00060
Image Size 300 DPI: 32 * 33 cm
This color image is a composite of visible-light and near-infrared exposures taken in June 2002 by the Hubble space telescope (13 hours exposure). The massive galaxy cluster Abell 1689Â is located 2.2 billion light-years away in Virgo constellation. The gravity of the cluster's trillion stars " plus dark matter " acts as a 2-million-light-year-wide "lens" in space. This "gravitational lens" bends and magnifies the light of galaxies located far behind it. Though much more analysis is needed, Hubble astronomers speculate that some of the faintest objects in the picture are probably over 13 billion light-years away (redshift value 6).
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