Intracluster Light in Abell S1063 (IMAGE)

ESA/Hubble Information Centre

Intracluster Light in Abell S1063

Caption

Abell S1063, a galaxy cluster, was observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope as part of the Frontier Fields program. The huge mass of the cluster -- containing both baryonic matter and dark matter -- acts as cosmic magnification glass and deforms objects behind it. In the past astronomers used this gravitational lensing effect to calculate the distribution of dark matter in galaxy clusters.

Credit

NASA, ESA, and M. Montes (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia)

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