Hubble Space Telescope captures exploding star

March 07, 2015 19:43

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have spotted for the first time a distant supernova split into four images by cosmic lens. The multiple images of the exploding star are caused by the powerful gravity of a foreground elliptical galaxy embedded in a massive cluster of galaxies.

This unique observation will help astronomers refine their estimates of the amount and distribution of dark matter in the lensing galaxy and cluster, researchers said.

Dark matter cannot be seen directly but is believed to make up most of the universe's mass.

The gravity from both the elliptical galaxy and the galaxy cluster distorts and magnifies the light from the supernova behind them, an effect called gravitational lensing.

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