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Lensed Supernova in Abell 370

The first and largest panel of this 5-panel graphic appears on the left side of the screen. It is double the size of the other four panels. At the bottom left corner is the label “Galaxy Cluster Abell 370.” The image is a field of many dozens of white, yellow, red, and blue galaxies of various sizes and shapes. Some of the galaxies appear as streaks or arcs. A box in the top, left corner of this image highlights the portion of the galaxy cluster where the supernova was multiply imaged. To its left are four smaller panels, stacked two by two on top of each other. Each of the four panels is a version of the field contained in the small box within the first, large panel to the left. Panels A through D are explained in great detail in the Extended Description.

Through a phenomenon called gravitational lensing, three different moments in a far-off supernova explosion were captured in a single snapshot by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The light from the supernova, which was located behind the galaxy cluster Abell 370, was multiply lensed by the cluster's immense gravity. This light took three different paths through the cosmic lens of the massive cluster. The three paths were three different lengths and affected to different degrees by the slowing of time and curvature of space due to the cluster, so when the light arrived at Hubble (on the same day in December 2010), the supernova appeared at three different stages of evolution.

The left panel shows the portion of Abell 370 where the multiple images of the supernova appeared. Panel A, a composite of Hubble observations from 2011 to 2016, shows the locations of the multiply imaged host galaxy after the supernova faded. Panel B, a Hubble picture from December 2010, shows the three images of the host galaxy and the supernova at different phases in its evolution. Panel C, which subtracts the image in Panel B from that in Panel A, shows three different faces of the evolving supernova. Using a similar image subtraction process for multiple filters of data, Panel D shows the different colors of the cooling supernova at three different stages in its evolution.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    02:39:55.29
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -01:33:51.50
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Cetus
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    4 billion light-years

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    These data are from the HST proposals 11108 (PI: E. Hu, University of Hawaii), 11507 (PI: K. Noll, GSFC), 11591 (PI: J.-P. Kneib, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille), 13459 (PI: T. Treu, UCLA), 13790 (PI: S. Rodney, JHU), 14038 (PI: J. Lotz, STScI), and 14216 (R. Kirshner, Harvard University). 

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    HST>ACS/WFC and HST>WFC3/IR
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    September 2009 - February 2015
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    ACS/WFC: F435W, F606W, and F814W; WFC3/IR: F105W, F125W, F140W, and F160W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Abell 370
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Galaxy Cluster and Gratationally Lensed Supernova
  • Release Date
    November 9, 2022
  • Science Release
    Hubble Captures 3 Faces of Evolving Supernova in Early Universe
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, STScI, Hubble Frontier Fields, Wenlei Chen (UMN), Patrick Kelly (UMN)

Downloads

  • Full Res (For Display), 5210 × 2358
    png (12.27 MB)
  • Full Res (For Print), 5210 × 2358
    tif (15.12 MB)
  • 2000 × 905
    png (2.35 MB)
  • Unannotated Full Res (For Display), 5210 × 2358
    png (12.1 MB)
  • Unannotated Full Res (For Print), 5210 × 2358
    tif (14.98 MB)
  • Uannoatated, 2000 × 905
    png (2.25 MB)
  • Extended Description,
    pdf (113.21 KB)
The first and largest panel of this 5-panel graphic appears on the left side of the screen. It is double the size of the other four panels. At the bottom left corner is the label “Galaxy Cluster Abell 370.” The image is a field of many dozens of white, yellow, red, and blue galaxies of various sizes and shapes. Some of the galaxies appear as streaks or arcs. A box in the top, left corner of this image highlights the portion of the galaxy cluster where the supernova was multiply imaged. To its left are four smaller panels, stacked two by two on top of each other. Each of the four panels is a version of the field contained in the small box within the first, large panel to the left. Panels A through D are explained in great detail in the Extended Description.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

Blue: F435W + F606W Green: F814W + F105W Red: F125W + F140W + F160W

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

The left panel shows the portion of Abell 370 where the multiple images of the supernova appeared. Panel A, a composite of Hubble observations from 2011 to 2016, shows the locations of the multiply imaged host galaxy after the supernova faded. Panel B, a Hubble picture from December 2010, shows the three images of the host galaxy and the supernova at different phases in its evolution. Panel C, which subtracts the image in Panel B from that in Panel A, shows three different faces of the evolving supernova. Using a similar image subtraction process for multiple filters of data, Panel D shows the different colors of the cooling supernova at three different stages in its evolution.

Lensed Supernova in Abell 370 Compass Image

The compass graphic points to the object’s orientation on the celestial sphere. North points to the north celestial pole which currently lies near the star, Polaris, in the circumpolar constellation Ursa Minor. The object is observed at visible light wavelengths, the colors...

The top box shows a portion of galaxy cluster Abell 370, a field of many dozens of white, yellow, red, and blue galaxies of various sizes and shapes. Some galaxies appear as streaks or arcs. A box inside the top, left corner of this top box highlights the portion of the galaxy cluster where the supernova was multiply imaged. The bottom image is a magnified version of this area. Outside the left edge of the bottom box is a picture of the Hubble Space Telescope. Outside the right edge of this box is a depiction of the galaxy containing the supernova. The light paths for the three images of the supernova are traced from the galaxy to Hubble. Rather than being straight, these paths are bent. The lines show how the light traveled through the gravitational lens of the massive galaxy cluster, with some of the light taking longer routes across warped space. The warping produced three images of the explosion over different time periods that all arrived at Hubble simultaneously.

Multiple Light Paths of Single, Lensed Supernova

Through the phenomenon of gravitational lensing, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured three different moments in the explosion of a very far-off supernova—all in one picture! In this case, the immense gravity of the galaxy cluster Abell 370 acted as a cosmic lens, bending and...

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Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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