This image of the galaxy cluster Abell 2744 was obtained with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The zoomed image shows the region around the galaxy Abell2744_Y1, one of the most distant galaxy candidates known, harkening back to a time when the universe was 650 million years old.
This image of the galaxy cluster Abell 2744 was obtained with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The zoomed image shows the region around the galaxy Abell2744_Y1, one of the most distant galaxy candidates known, harkening back to a time when the universe was 650 million years old. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope helped to narrow in on the galaxy’s great distance.
The galaxy was found with the help of a gravitational lens: gravity from the mass in Abell 2744 acts to magnify the light of more distant galaxies behind it.
These observations were part of NASA’s Frontier Fields program, designed to push the limits of how far we can see into the early universe.
Image Credit: NASA/ESA/STScI/IAC