Animation of Supernova Requiem’s Light Path

This animation demonstrates how light from Supernova Requiem, which exploded about 10 billion years ago, was split into multiple images by a massive foreground cluster of galaxies.

The supernova's light is travelling billions of light-years toward Earth when it runs into the hefty galaxy cluster. The cluster's powerful gravity warps the fabric of space, represented by the grid.

The galactic grouping's gravity magnifies, brightens, and splits the supernova's light into multiple mages, which appeared in a 2016 Hubble Space Telescope snapshot.

However, some of the exploded star's light takes a longer path toward Earth. It passes through the cluster's central region, where gravity is the strongest. The combination of gravity's pull and the longer route across space slows down the light, delaying its arrival at Earth by about 16 years. Researchers compare this phenomenon to a train that has descended into a deep valley and is now chugging up a steep hill to get out. That light is predicted to finally reach Earth in 2037.