Astronomers Create Most Precise Map of Distant Galaxy Cluster Yet

With the help of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have managed to create the most precise map of a distant galaxy cluster. The new map reveals the amount and distribution of mass within a cluster estimated to be 160 trillion times the mass of the sun.

The galaxy cluster itself is called MCS J0416.1-2403. It was actually mapped thanks to strong gravitational lensing, which makes objects look closer than they actually are. This, in turn, allows astronomers to view objects in unprecedented detail with the new Hubble data.

"The depth of the data lets us see very faint objects and allowed us to identify more strongly lensed galaxies than ever before," said Mathilde Jauzac, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Even though strong lensing magnifies the background galaxies they are still very far away and very faint. The depth of these data means that we can identify incredibly distant background galaxies. We now know of more than four times as many strongly lensed galaxies in the cluster than we did before."

With the data, the researchers were actually able to identify 51 new multiply imaged galaxies around the cluster. That quadruples the number found in previous surveys and brings the number of total lensed galacies up to 68. The scientists then studied 57 of the most reliable and clearly lensed galaxies to model the mass of both normal and dark matter within MCS J0416.1-2403.

"Although we've known how to map the mass of a cluster using strong lensing for more than twenty years, it's taken a long time to get telescopes that can make sufficiently deep and sharp observations, and for our models to become sophisticated enough for us to map, in such unprecedented detail, a system as complicated as MCS J0416.1-2403," said Jean-Paul Kneib, one of the researchers.

The findings reveal a bit more about this galaxy cluster and show how Hubble imaging can help expand our view of the universe.

The findings are published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.