![A packed field of galaxies and curved blue streaks and arcs. Bright blue-white foreground star at bottom right.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/stsci-h-p1720a-f-4164x4634-1.png?w=4096&format=png)
Hubble Sees Nearby Asteroids Photobombing Distant Galaxies
Galaxy cluster Abell 370 contains several hundred galaxies tied together by the mutual pull of gravity. Photographed in a combination of visible and near-infrared light, the brightest and largest galaxies are the yellow-white, massive, elliptical galaxies containing many hundreds of billions of stars each. Spiral galaxies have younger populations of stars and are bluish. Mysterious-looking arcs of blue light are distorted images of remote galaxies behind the cluster. The cluster acts as a huge lens in space that magnifies and stretches images of background galaxies like a funhouse mirror.
Credits: NASA, ESA, J. Lotz, and the HFF Team (STScI)
TakenNovember 6, 2017
Image CreditNASA, ESA, J. Lotz, and the HFF Team (STScI)
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