![]() ![]() The two identical side-by-side images were created because they straddle a "ripple" in space-time – an area of greatest magnification created by the gravity of a filament of dark matter. This already gives us an idea of how smooth the dark matter needs to be at these two positions." They can be folded into one another by our method. ![]() We just take the observables of the multiple images and the fact they can be transformed into one another. "It's great that we only need two mirror images in order to get the scale of how clumpy or not dark matter can be at these positions," said astronomer Jenny Wagner of the University of Heidelberg in Germany. Computer simulations then helped determine that the three duplicated images could only be created if the distribution of dark matter is smooth at small scales. The galaxy itself is a barred spiral galaxy with its edge facing us, undergoing clumpy and uneven star formation, the researchers determined. The team's work revealed that Hamilton's Object is around 11 billion light-years away, and a different team's work revealed that that the cluster is about 7 billion light-years away. Usually, these discoveries go the other way – first the cluster is identified, and then astronomers go looking for lensed galaxies behind them. Between us and Hamilton's Object lurks a cluster of galaxies that had only been poorly documented. A huge problem, however, remained: What was causing the gravitational curvature? So Griffiths and his team set about searching sky survey data for an object massive enough to produce the lensing effect.Īnd they found it. ![]()
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