To fully appreciate the images sent back by the James Webb Space Telescope, you have to have a sharp eye sometimes. And do not hesitate to realize that it can happen that we see three times …
The RX J2129 galaxy cluster consists of a few hundred galaxies. It is located about 3.2 billion light-years from Earth constellationconstellation Aquarius. and this is MassMass So that it can act as a magnifying glass for our astronomical observations. by the effect of gravitational lensing.
That’s exactly what happened in an image recently captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). As a result, the image of one of the background galaxies reached the device after taking three different paths. And so it appears three times on the same picture. It also appeared on different dates in its history. It requires us travel time to light up. There is no doubt more than three years of difference between the pictures. But all the same…
Gravitational lensing and supernovae
This is also what allowed for Astronomy scientists To notice a particular star. which is shown in one of the pictures. Not on others. A type Ia supernova. Among those used by researchers to measure distances in the universe. because they are brightnessbrightness The absolute is almost the same for everyone starsstars that ends like this. What do we return to the distance that separates us from them by simply measuring their apparent brilliance?
In the current state, this supernova can above all inform Astronomy scientistsAstronomy scientists On thecluster of galaxiescluster of galaxies Rx J2129. Because effect gravitational lensgravitational lens It doesn’t just distort the pictures. It also changes their brightness. So a measure of the brightness of the supernova that the researchers detected in the James Webb Space Telescope image could finally tell them what mass of the cluster is responsible for the gravitational lensing effect.
