Space
Hubble’s Advanced Camera Seized Cluster Of Dwarf Galaxies By Gravitational Lensing
Jeffrey Morcilla
First Posted: Nov 24, 2016 03:10 AM EST
An ongoing discovery and exploration of celestial structure in outer space have been rampantly moving on until today. In fact, this year a team of researchers captured a huge population of ancient dwarf galaxies by using the Hubble Space Telescope. This space telescope was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and until today it remains in operation. It is also considered as one of the largest and most versatile and renowned for its research tool and public relations advantage for astronomy.
Astronomers are certain that the celestial galaxies have lived in isolation for billion years. By exploring their structures, it could deliver essential indications of the origin of the stars.
According to the research team headed by University of California, it stated that, "Despite their importance, distant dwarf galaxies remain elusive, because they are extremely faint and beyond the reach of even the best telescopes. This means that the current picture of the early universe is not complete."
However, due to enthusiastic approach of the research team, for them to capture a clearer view of these galaxies they made use of a phenomenon known gravitational lensing. According to CFHTLens, gravitational lensing works in analogous way and as Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity it simply conveys, mass bends light.
Basically, the gravitational field of a massive object will extend far into space and cause light rays passing close to that object to be bent and refocused somewhere else. Therefore, the more massive the object, the stronger its gravitational field and hence the greater the bending of light rays, which also allows scientist to capture a sight of what otherwise have remained invisible.
Furthermore, "In this particular case, a warp in space-time created by the Abell 1698 galaxy cluster - located roughly 2.2 billion light-years from Earth - was used as the gravitational lens," IB Times noted.
"These dwarf galaxies are 10 to 100 times fainter than galaxies that have been previously observed during these periods of time. Though faint, these galaxies are far more numerous than their brighter counterparts," University of California added.
Dwarf galaxies are fascinating objects for a lot of reasons. Their structures, chemical composition and kinematics indicate pivotal challenges to our theoretical thinking of galaxy formation. In 2018, these dwarf galaxies will be further studied by the research team using James Webb Space Telescope and much more give way to new discoveries about the origination of the universe.
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NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone
Tagsastronomy, Exoplanets, Hubble Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, hubble, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Galaxies, Dwarf Galaxy, Dwarf Planet, Gravitational Lensing, Gravitational Astrophysics, Albert Einstein ©2024 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
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First Posted: Nov 24, 2016 03:10 AM EST
An ongoing discovery and exploration of celestial structure in outer space have been rampantly moving on until today. In fact, this year a team of researchers captured a huge population of ancient dwarf galaxies by using the Hubble Space Telescope. This space telescope was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and until today it remains in operation. It is also considered as one of the largest and most versatile and renowned for its research tool and public relations advantage for astronomy.
Astronomers are certain that the celestial galaxies have lived in isolation for billion years. By exploring their structures, it could deliver essential indications of the origin of the stars.
According to the research team headed by University of California, it stated that, "Despite their importance, distant dwarf galaxies remain elusive, because they are extremely faint and beyond the reach of even the best telescopes. This means that the current picture of the early universe is not complete."
However, due to enthusiastic approach of the research team, for them to capture a clearer view of these galaxies they made use of a phenomenon known gravitational lensing. According to CFHTLens, gravitational lensing works in analogous way and as Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity it simply conveys, mass bends light.
Basically, the gravitational field of a massive object will extend far into space and cause light rays passing close to that object to be bent and refocused somewhere else. Therefore, the more massive the object, the stronger its gravitational field and hence the greater the bending of light rays, which also allows scientist to capture a sight of what otherwise have remained invisible.
Furthermore, "In this particular case, a warp in space-time created by the Abell 1698 galaxy cluster - located roughly 2.2 billion light-years from Earth - was used as the gravitational lens," IB Times noted.
"These dwarf galaxies are 10 to 100 times fainter than galaxies that have been previously observed during these periods of time. Though faint, these galaxies are far more numerous than their brighter counterparts," University of California added.
Dwarf galaxies are fascinating objects for a lot of reasons. Their structures, chemical composition and kinematics indicate pivotal challenges to our theoretical thinking of galaxy formation. In 2018, these dwarf galaxies will be further studied by the research team using James Webb Space Telescope and much more give way to new discoveries about the origination of the universe.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone