Gravity is so firmly embedded in everyday life that we never remember about it. However, on a galactic scale, its power manifests itself incredibly vividly, providing amazing visual observations.
This image, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope wide-angle camera 3 (WFC3), demonstrates SDSS J1138 + 2754. The object functions as a gravitational lens: a large mass (cluster) forms such a powerful gravitational field that it bends the fabric of space-time. This leads to the fact that the light located behind the galaxy moves along distorted lines, transforming the usual spiral and elliptical shapes into blurred arcs. You can see how some distant galaxies appear in the frame several times. These are wide objects, so light from one side passes through a gravitational lens differently than from the other. When a light beam approaches the Earth, it may appear reflected (noticeably below to the left) or distorted (upper right).
Data obtained from a project on the study of stellar birth in a distant universe. Hubble followed 73 gravitational-lens galaxies.
