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Abell 2218
Abell 2218 is a cluster of galaxies. It is at a distance of about 2
billion light years behind the
constellation Draco. This is the 2,218th cluster in George Abell's catalog. It has come under a lot
of study recently. When deep images are taken of this cluster, beautiful
arcs are seen surrounding the center of the cluster (Abell's images were
relatively shallow, so these arcs were not visible to him).
Most of these arcs are
actually images from a single galaxy far behind the cluster! When the
light from this galaxy (5-10 times more distant than Abell 2218) passes
through the cluster, the light gets deflected by the gravitational field
the cluster. In this case (which is rare) the light is bent so
stronly that the image is sheared out into an arc. Also, because
of the strength of the lens, light passing to either side of the cluster gets bent
toward the observer and multiple images are seen. Because some of the arcs
are blue and some are red, I suspect the arcs may be from more than one
background galaxy, perhaps in a cluster or group of their own. You can
learn more about this picture by going to the NASA
Press Release for this Hubble Space Telescope image. Other press releases can be found
here.