Astronomers have released the latest deep field image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, featuring never-before-seen details in a region of space called Pandora’s Cluster.
This image reveals three already large clusters of galaxies coming together to form a mega-cluster.
The combined mass of the galaxy clusters creates a powerful gravitational lens, allowing much more distant galaxies in the early universe to be observed.
Previously, only Pandora’s central core had been studied in detail by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
New frontier
Astronomers worldwide have achieved a balance of breadth and depth that will open up a new frontier in the study of cosmology and galaxy evolution.
Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing senior research fellow Ivo Labbe says they have revealed hundreds of distant lensed galaxies that appear like faint arched lines in the image.
“Pandora’s Cluster, as imaged by Webb, shows us a stronger, wider, deeper, better lens than we have ever seen before,” Dr Labbe said.
“My first reaction to the image was that it was so beautiful, it looked like a galaxy formation simulation. We had to remind ourselves that this was real data, and we are working in a new era of astronomy now.”
The new view of Pandora’s Cluster stitches four Webb snapshots together into one panoramic image.
In addition to magnification, gravitational lensing distorts the appearance of distant galaxies, so they look very different to those in the foreground.
The galaxy cluster “lens” is so large that it warps the fabric of space itself, enough for light from distant galaxies that passes through that warped space to also take on a warped appearance.
Expectations ‘exceeded’
University of Pittsburgh astronomer Rachel Bezanson says the ancient myth of Pandora is about human curiosity and discoveries that delineate the past from the future.
“I think [this] is a fitting connection to the new realms of the universe Webb is opening up, including this deep-field image of Pandora’s Cluster,” Dr Bezanson said.
“When the images of Pandora’s Cluster first came in from Webb, we were honestly a little star struck. 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.”
Astronomers used cameras on Webb to capture the cluster with exposures lasting four to six hours, for a total of about 30 hours.
They hope that with study they will be able to provide precise distance measurements and detailed information about the lensed galaxies’ compositions.
These insights into the early era of galaxy assembly and evolution can be expected in mid-2023.
“We are committed to helping the astronomy community make the best use of the fantastic resource we have in Webb,” said Gabriel Brammer, of the Niels Bohr Institute’s Cosmic Dawn Centre at the University of Copenhagen.
“This is just the beginning of all the amazing Webb science to come.”
