A spooky picture of a “cosmic cobweb” of galaxies is clustering in a method that confounds scientists.
The eerie Hubble Space Telescope picture was launched for the “spooky season” surrounding Halloween, in accordance with an Oct. 27 statement (opens in new tab) from officers on the European House Company. What astronomers are spying may comprise clues about dark matter, a mysterious substance that looms in an estimated 85 % of the identified universe.Â
Abell 611 is situated roughly 3.2 billion gentle years from Earth and confuses astronomers, officers famous, because the whirling galaxies don’t comprise sufficient seen mass “to stop the cluster from flying aside.” The galaxy cluster possible is held collectively by dark matter, which scientists are struggling to grasp as a result of the substance can’t be sensed with typical devices.
Associated: Advanced AI discovers a treasure trove of gravitational lenses
Darkish matter theories cluster into considered one of two teams, ESA officers acknowledged. It’s both, they wrote, “some kind of particle that exists in huge portions all through the universe — however for some cause doesn’t work together with gentle as different particles do — or some kind of large object that […] doesn’t lend itself to detection utilizing present telescope expertise.”
Darkish matter is obvious on this cluster, ESA officers added, attributable to a phenomenon often called gravitational lensing. The huge gravity of Abell 611 bends the sunshine of extra distant objects in behind, permitting astronomers to catch a glimpse of faraway galaxies.
“An instance of lensing is maybe most clearly seen within the middle of the picture, to the left of the cluster’s glowing core, the place a curve of sunshine will be seen,” officers wrote.
Whereas enormous clusters like Abell 611 permit scientists to peek at in any other case invisible galaxies within the distance, on a smaller scale gravitational lensing may even be used to check stars or planets.Â
For instance, a separate research launched in Could suggests we may use the sun‘s gravitational subject to seek life on faraway exoplanets. Additionally, the newly operational James Webb Space Telescope used gravitational lensing of a galaxy to identify the most distant known star but, nicknamed Earendel, shortly after Hubble noticed the previous star for the very first time.
Launched in 1990, the Hubble House Telescope is an ongoing collaboration between NASA and the European House Company. This newest picture was taken as a part of 4 completely different commentary packages learning the massive scale construction of the universe, the construction and evolution of galaxies and gravitational lensing.
Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab). Â
