Lensed Supernova in Abell 370

Lensed Supernova in Abell 370

Through a phenomenon called gravitational lensing, three different moments in a far-off supernova explosion were captured in a single snapshot by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The light from the supernova, which was located behind the galaxy cluster Abell 370, was multiply lensed by the cluster's immense gravity. This light took three different paths through the cosmic lens of the massive cluster. The three paths were three different lengths and affected to different degrees by the slowing of time and curvature of space due to the cluster, so when the light arrived at Hubble (on the same day in December 2010), the supernova appeared at three different stages of evolution.

The left panel shows the portion of Abell 370 where the multiple images of the supernova appeared. Panel A, a composite of Hubble observations from 2011 to 2016, shows the locations of the multiply imaged host galaxy after the supernova faded. Panel B, a Hubble picture from December 2010, shows the three images of the host galaxy and the supernova at different phases in its evolution. Panel C, which subtracts the image in Panel B from that in Panel A, shows three different faces of the evolving supernova. Using a similar image subtraction process for multiple filters of data, Panel D shows the different colors of the cooling supernova at three different stages in its evolution.

Credits

Science

NASA, ESA, STScI, Wenlei Chen (UMN), Patrick Kelly (UMN), Hubble Frontier Fields

About The Object
Object Name Abell 370
Object Description Galaxy Cluster and Gratationally Lensed Supernova 
R.A. Position 02:39:55.29
Dec. Position -01:33:51.50
Constellation Cetus
Distance 4 billion light-years
About The Data
Data Description These data are from the HST proposals (PI: E. Hu, University of Hawaii), (PI: K. Noll, GSFC), (PI: J.-P. Kneib, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille), (PI: T. Treu, UCLA), (PI: S. Rodney, JHU), (PI: J. Lotz, STScI), and (R. Kirshner, Harvard University). 
Instrument HST>ACS/WFC and HST>WFC3/IR
Exposure Dates September 2009 - February 2015
Filters ACS/WFC: F435W, F606W, and F814W; WFC3/IR: F105W, F125W, F140W, and F160W
About The Image
Color Info Blue: F435W + F606W Green: F814W + F105W Red: F125W + F140W + F160W
Compass Image The first and largest panel of this 5-panel graphic appears on the left side of the screen. It is double the size of the other four panels. At the bottom left corner is the label “Galaxy Cluster Abell 370.” The image is a field of many dozens of white, yellow, red, and blue galaxies of various sizes and shapes. Some of the galaxies appear as streaks or arcs. A box in the top, left corner of this image highlights the portion of the galaxy cluster where the supernova was multiply imaged. To its left are four smaller panels, stacked two by two on top of each other. Each of the four panels is a version of the field contained in the small box within the first, large panel to the left. Panels A through D are explained in great detail in the Extended Description.
About The Object
Object Name A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
Object Description The type of astronomical object.
R.A. Position Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
Dec. Position Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
Constellation One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
Distance The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
Dimensions The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
About The Data
Data Description
  • Proposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
  • Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.
Instrument The science instrument used to produce the data.
Exposure Dates The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
Filters The camera filters that were used in the science observations.
About The Image
Image Credit The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content.
Publication Date The date and time the release content became public.
Color Info A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.
Orientation The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere.

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