Astronomers unveiled the latest deep-field image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. It highlights the never-before-seen details in a bright massive region of space called Pandora's Cluster (Abell 2744).
Webb's view displayed three clusters of galaxies merging to become mega clusters. According to a press release by NASA, the combined mass of the galaxy clusters creates a powerful gravitational lens, a natural magnification effect of gravity, allowing much more distant galaxies in the early universe to be observed by using the cluster like a magnifying glass.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has explored Pandora's central core in detail before but astronomers plan to achieve a balance of breadth and depth that will open up a new frontier in the study of cosmology and galaxy evolution.
"The ancient myth of Pandora is about human curiosity and discoveries that delineate the past from the future, which I think is a fitting connection to the new realms of the universe Webb is opening up, including this deep-field image of Pandora's Cluster," Rachel Bezanson, an astronomer from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, said in a statement.
Ms Bezanson added, "When the images of Pandora's Cluster first came in from Webb, we were honestly a little starstruck," Adding, "There was so much detail in the foreground cluster and so many distant lensed galaxies, I found myself getting lost in the image. Webb exceeded our expectations."
According to NASA, the galaxy cluster "lens" is so massive that it warps the fabric of space itself, enough for light from distant galaxies that pass through that warped space to also take on a warped appearance.
The team used Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) to capture the cluster with exposures lasting 4-6 hours, for a total of about 30 hours of observing time.
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