ALMA image of "Shadow Blaster" (IMAGE)

Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)

ALMA image of "Shadow Blaster"

Caption

This image shows a close-up of the gravitationally lensed galaxy nicknamed "Shadow Blaster," which astronomers have identified as the likely source of the high-energy neutrino event IC 210922A, detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in 2021.

Gravitational lensing occurs when a very massive foreground galaxy bends spacetime, acting as a cosmic magnifying glass that enlarges and distorts the image of a more distant galaxy behind it. In this case, a foreground galaxy, which is not visible in this image, is bending the light of the more distant Shadow Blaster galaxy, creating multiple distorted images of it that appear here as yellow arcs.

Credit

NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)

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Credit must be given to the creator.

License

CC BY

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