Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2016

SPACE CHRONICLES n T his part of the sky was observed in parallel with the galaxy cluster Abell S1063 and is also part of the Frontier Fields programme. While one of Hubble’s cameras observed the galaxy cluster itself, another simulta- neously captured the spectacular scene pictured here, of an “unremark- able” patch of space. While not hav- ing the advantage of strong gravita- tional lensing this parallel field obser- vation is still nearly as deep as the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field. Combined with other deep fields it helps astron- omers understand how similar the Universe looks in different directions. [NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz (STScI)] to bend light from background gal- axies, nor is it the only one of these huge cosmic lenses to be stud- ied using Hubble. Three other clusters have already been ob- served as part of the Frontier Fields programme, and two more will be observed over the next few years, giving astronomers a remarkable pic- ture of how they work and what lies both within and be- yond them. Data gathered from the previ- ous galaxy clusters were stud- ied by teams all over the world, enabling them to make important discoveries, among them galaxies that existed only hundreds of million years after the Big Bang and the first pre- dicted appearance of a gravitation- ally lensed supernova. Such an extensive international col- laboration would have made Gene Roddenberry, the father of Star Trek, proud. In the fictional world Rodden- berry created, a diverse crewwork to- gether to peacefully explore the Uni- verse. This dream is partially achieved by the Hubble programme in which the European Space Agency (ESA), supported by 22 member states, and NASA collaborate to operate one of the most sophisticated scientific in- struments in the world. Not to men- tion the scores of other interna- tional science teams that cross state, country and continental borders to achieve their scientific aims. T his video begins with a view of the night sky from the ground, before zooming in on the distant galaxy cluster Abell S1063 as the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope sees it. The cluster was observed as part of the Fron- tier Fields programme. [Fuji/DSS/Hubble] ise some remarkable new discover- ies. Already, a galaxy has been found that is observed as it was just a bil- lion years after the Big Bang. Astronomers have also identified six- teen background galaxies whose light has been distorted by the cluster, causing multiple images of them to appear on the sky. This will help as- tronomers to improve their models of the distribution of both ordinary and dark matter in the galaxy cluster, as it is the gravity from these that causes the distorting effects. These models are key to understanding the myste- rious nature of dark matter. Abell S1063 is not alone in its ability