Several bright elliptical and spiral galaxies cluster near the image's center, while many others dot the field of view. Elongated, blue ellipses around the central cluster are a distant, gravitationally lensed galaxy.

Hubble’s View of the Gravitational Lens Galaxy Cluster 0024+1654

This Hubble image shows several blue, loop-shaped objects that actually are multiple images of the same galaxy. The gravitational lens created by the cluster of yellow, elliptical and spiral galaxies near the image’s center distorted, magnified, and duplicated the distant galaxy.

Credits: NASA, W.N. Colley and E. Turner (Princeton University), J.A. Tyson (Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies)
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Image CreditNASA, W.N. Colley and E. Turner (Princeton University), J.A. Tyson (Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies)
Size1024x1021px