Galactic Smiley Face Captured by Hubble Telescope

Forget Orion’s belt and the Big Dipper. They’ve got nothing on galaxy cluster SDSS J1038+4849!

A new image released by NASA reveals why the galaxy cluster with a funny name is fast becoming a big hit with celestial fans worldwide.

“It seems to be smiling,” NASA simply stated on its “Image of the Day” photo gallery Tuesday. The picture, captured by the Hubble Telescope, shows two orange eyes and what looks very much like a white button nose.

NASA explains:

In the case of this “happy face”, the two eyes are very bright galaxies and the misleading smile lines are actually arcs caused by an effect known as strong gravitational lensing.

Galaxy clusters are the most massive structures in the Universe and exert such a powerful gravitational pull that they warp the spacetime around them and act as cosmic lenses which can magnify, distort and bend the light behind them. This phenomenon, crucial to many of Hubble’s discoveries, can be explained by Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

In this special case of gravitational lensing, a ring — known as an Einstein Ring — is produced from this bending of light, a consequence of the exact and symmetrical alignment of the source, lens and observer and resulting in the ring-like structure we see here.

Hubble has given earth-bound astronomers the tools needed to explore these galaxies and study their lensing effects, NASA noted on its website.

The image captured was such a hit a version of it was entered into the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by Judy Schmidt.

While Hubble images are putting smiles on people’s faces, astronauts onboard the International Space Station are continuing to awe the public with photos that hit a bit closer to home. Reid Weisman’s shot of Florida taken last summer created quite a buzz.

Image Credit: NASA/ESA

See Also:

• Astronaut Snaps Awesome Pic of Florida From Space
• Watch: Holiday Lights Shine From Space in NASA Video

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