MACS0647: Gravitational Lensing of the Early Universe by Webb
Image Credit:
NASA,
ESA,
CSA,
Dan Coe
(STScI),
Rebecca Larson (UT), Yu-Yang Hsiao (JHU);
Processing:
Alyssa Pagan (STScI);
Text: Michael Rutkowski
(Minn. St. U. Mankato)
Gravitational lensing by the galaxy cluster MACS0647 -- in which the massive foreground cluster distorts and lenses the light emitted by distant background galaxies along the line of sight — is on vivid display here in
this recent
multi-color infrared image from the
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
In particular, the background source
MACS0647-JD
is seen to be
lensed three times by the cluster.
When first discovered with the
Hubble Space Telescope,
MACS0647-JD was observed as an amorphous blob.
With Webb though,
this single source is revealed to be a
pair or small group of galaxies.
The colors of the MACS0647-JD objects are different as well --
indicating differences potentially in the age or
dust content of these galaxies.
These new images provide rare examples of galaxies
in an era only a few 100 million years after the
Big Bang.