The eye is immediately drawn, in this month’s new image from the James Webb Space Telescope (NASA/ESA/CSA), to the “monster” at the center: the galaxy cluster Abell S1063. This huge collection of galaxies, located about 4.5 billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Grus (the Crane), dominates the field of view. A closer look reveals glowing streaks and curved arcs around it—the product of gravitational lensing—and it is precisely these that attract the researchers’ attention: these arcs are magnified and distorted images of faint, ancient galaxies from the distant universe.
The eye is immediately drawn, in this month’s new image from the James Webb Space Telescope (NASA/ESA/CSA), to the “monster” at the center: the galaxy cluster Abell S1063. This huge collection of galaxies, located about 4.5 billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Grus (the Crane), dominates the field of view. A closer look reveals glowing streaks and curved arcs around it—the product of gravitational lensing—and it is precisely these that attract the researchers’ attention: these arcs are magnified and distorted images of faint, ancient galaxies from the distant universe.
