Making Of A Cosmic Monster: Hubble Space Telescope Observes Merging Of Galaxy Clusters To Form Gravitational Lens

US space agency NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled a remarkable 'cosmic event' in its recent observation of a galaxy cluster situated approximately eight billion light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici.

This extraordinary cluster ' eMACS J1353.7+4329', comprising of at least two galaxy clusters, is currently undergoing a merger of cosmic proportions, giving rise to a colossal entity that behaves as a gravitational lens.

"The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a monster in the making in this observation of the exceptional galaxy cluster eMACS J1353.7+4329, which lies about eight billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici," NASA said in a statement on Friday (14 July).

"This collection of at least two galaxy clusters is in the process of merging together to create a cosmic monster, a single gargantuan cluster acting as a gravitational lens," the US space agency added.

Gravitational lensing is a dramatic example of Einstein’s general theory of relativity in action.

A celestial body such as a galaxy cluster is sufficiently massive to distort spacetime, which causes the path of light around the object to be visibly bent as if by a vast lens.

Gravitational lensing can also magnify distant objects, allowing astronomers to observe objects that would otherwise be too faint and too far away to be detected.

It can also distort the images of background galaxies, turning them into streaks of light.

The first hints of gravitational lensing are already visible in this image as bright arcs which mingle with the throng of galaxies in eMACS J1353.7+4329.

In the image, the effects of gravitational lensing can be seen to the right of the largest, central galaxy, which has stretched a background galaxy, causing it to appear as two connected, thin arcs.

NASA said that the data in the image are drawn from an observing project called "Monsters in the Making", which used two of Hubble’s instruments to observe five exceptional galaxy clusters at multiple wavelengths.

Hubble's observations of these vast gravitational lenses lay the groundwork for studying such objects in even greater detail with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, according to the statement.