Posted on 08/23/2021 4:20:36 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: Is that one galaxy or three? Toward the right of the featured Hubble image of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 3827 is what appears to be a most unusual galaxy -- curved and with three centers. A detailed analysis, however, finds that these are three images of the same background galaxy -- and that there are at least four more images. Light we see from the single background blue galaxy takes multiple paths through the complex gravity of the cluster, just like a single distant light can take multiple paths through the stem of a wine glass. Studying how clusters like Abell 3827 and their component galaxies deflect distant light gives information about how mass and dark matter are distributed. Abell 3827 is so distant, having a redshift of 0.1, that the light we see from it left about 1.3 billion years ago -- before dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Therefore, the cluster's central galaxies have now surely all coalesced -- in a feast of galactic cannibalism -- into one huge galaxy near the cluster's center.
(Excerpt) Read more at apod.nasa.gov ...
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
bttt
To me it looks like a fireworks display where some are finishing and descending as news ones are at their peak.
Great lines from Jack Kerouac in On the Road about creative people he likes to be around:
“....the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”
We dont know squat about gravity/magnetism/light/energy.
Beam me up, Scotty!
ALMOST an “Einstein’s Cross”. It would be really neat to see a gravity lensed galaxy thru a telescope.
Anything with “Cannibal” in the name reminds me of the Zulu doll in “Trilogy of Terror”. (Karen Black is the most underrated actress of all time.) Heh. :-)
Dittos.
Aye, Captain, the Gravitational Lens is playing havoc with the warp drive, and the Lens is so twisted all we can see are leftist liberal creatures. All the right-thinking humans are warping toward Planet Texarkana and the Floridian Nebula.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.