Hubble Space Telescope Snaps Smiley-Shaped Cluster of Galaxies

Astronomy |

November 13, 2018

Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt — This image of SDSS J0952+3434 is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the infrared and optical parts of the spectrum. Four filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.

NASA and ESA Space Telescopes Hubble have found a smiley galaxy cluster SDSS J0952 + 3434, which located about four billion light-years from our own solar system.

“Just below center is a formation of galaxies akin to a smiling face. Two yellow-hued blobs hang atop a sweeping arc of light. The lower, arc-shaped galaxy has the characteristic shape of a galaxy that has been gravitationally lensed — its light has passed near a massive object en route to us, causing it to become distorted and stretched out of shape.”

The image was photographed with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and part of a mission to find out more about how new stars are born in the cosmos.

? Can you find the smiling face in this patch of space, captured by @NASAHubble? The unprecedented resolution of Hubble's camera is high enough to locate and study regions of star formation — and see galaxies in all shapes, colors and sizes. Zoom in: https://t.co/25ltkpLQGZ pic.twitter.com/NIRmYEJ6WF

— NASA (@NASA) 2 november 2018