File:Seeing Triple (potm2302a).jpeg

File
File history
File usage
Metadata

Original file ‎(4,377 × 3,501 pixels, file size: 2.63 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

This file is from a shared repository and may be used by other projects. Please see the file description page for further information.

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

	Date/Time	Thumbnail	Dimensions	User	Comment
current	12:20, 28 February 2023		4,377 × 3,501 (2.63 MB)	commons>OptimusPrimeBot	#Spacemedia - Upload of https://cdn.esawebb.org/archives/images/large/potm2302a.jpg via Commons:Spacemedia

File usage

There are no pages that use this file.

Metadata

This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it.

If the file has been modified from its original state, some details may not fully reflect the modified file.

Source	ESA/Webb
Credit/Provider	ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Kelly
Short title	Seeing Triple
Image title	This observation from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope features the massive galaxy cluster RX J2129. Due to Gravitational lensing, this observation contains three different images of the same supernova-hosting galaxy, which you can see in closer detail here. Gravitational lensing occurs when a massive celestial body causes a sufficient curvature of spacetime to bend the path of light travelling past or through it, almost like a vast lens. In this case, the lens is the galaxy cluster RX J2129, located around 3.2 billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Aquarius. Gravitational lensing can cause background objects to appear strangely distorted, as can be seen by the concentric arcs of light in the upper right of this image. Astronomers discovered the supernova in the triply-lensed background galaxy using observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and they suspected that they had found a very distant Type Ia supernova. These supernovae always produce a fairly consistent luminosity— at the same distance, one looks as bright as any other — which makes them particularly helpful to astronomers. As their distance from Earth is proportional to how dim they appear in the night sky, objects with known brightness can be used as 'standard candles' to measure astronomical distances. The almost uniform luminosity of a Type Ia supernova could also allow astronomers to understand how strongly the galaxy cluster RX J2129 is magnifying background objects, and therefore how massive the galaxy cluster is. As well as distorting the images of background objects, gravitational lenses can cause distant objects to appear much brighter than they would otherwise. If the gravitational lens magnifies something with a known brightness, such as a Type Ia supernova, then astronomers can use this to measure the ‘prescription’ of the gravitational lens. This observation was captured by Webb's Near-InfraRed Camera to measure the brightness of the lensed supernova. As part of the same programme, NIRSpec spectroscopy of the supernova was also obtained, which will allow comparison of this distant supernova to Type Ia supernovae in the nearby Universe. This is an important way to verify that one of astronomers’ tried-and-tested methods of measuring vast distances works as expected. [Image description: Stars and galaxies, mostly reddish in colour, are scattered across a dark background. In the foreground upper-right corner, a large elliptical galaxy is surrounded by many smaller similar galaxies in a cluster. These galaxies have bright centres and a diffuse white glow around them. The large galaxy has distorted images and arcs around it.] Links Seeing Triple (Annotated) Pan of Seeing Triple Zoom of Seeing Triple
Usage terms	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Date and time of data generation	06:00, 28 February 2023
Software used	Adobe Photoshop 24.1 (Windows)
File change date and time	04:32, 20 February 2023
Date and time of digitizing	16:53, 26 January 2023
Date metadata was last modified	05:32, 20 February 2023
Unique ID of original document	xmp.did:debd889f-16fb-544d-9e83-f97ccf51d820
Contact information	https://esawebb.org ESA Office, Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr Baltimore, MD, 21218 United States
IIM version	4

File:Seeing Triple (potm2302a).jpeg

File history

File usage

Metadata

Navigation menu

Search