This galaxy is 10 billion light years away, visible through a cosmic lens

Hubble, who just came back online after being unavailable for a month, captured this stunning photo of a galaxy that exists 10 billion light years away. The telescope can see and focus this vast distance by harnessing the power of gravity.

This photo of MRG-M0138, what NASA describes as a “sleeping giant” that has used up the gas needed to form new stars, is framed by a handful of visible galaxies and stars that form a circular pattern. The ability of the Hubble Space Telescope to see great distances is also the cause of this unique visual effect: the gravitational lens.

Earlier this year, NASA detailed how the gravitational lens works in a detailed video, but in short, the gravitational lens occurs when light from a distant galaxy is subtly distorted by the gravitational pull of a intermediate astronomical object. Gravity distorts space in such a way that it creates an “optic” that channels light into Hubble and gives it the ability to see galaxies that are normally too far apart to be studied with current technology and physical telescopes. NASA describes it as looking through a giant magnifying glass.

“Astronomers can use the gravitational lens as a natural magnifying glass, allowing them to inspect objects like distant dormant galaxies that would generally be too difficult to solve even for Hubble,” says NASA.

NASA explains that this particular image was taken using observations from eight different infrared filters spread across two of Hubble’s most advanced astronomical instruments: the Advanced Survey Camera and the Wide Field Camera 3. These two instruments were installed by technicians during Hubble’s last two service missions. : Maintenance mission 3B which took place from March 1 to 12, 2002 and Maintenance mission 4, which took place from May 11 to 24, 2009.

“During SM4, two new scientific instruments were installed – the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph (COS) and the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3),” says NASA.

The advanced survey camera was installed on maintenance mission 3B, but was considered a “failed instrument”. This was fixed during Maintenance Mission 4.

“Two failed instruments, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), were revived by the very first in-orbit repairs,” NASA continues. “With these efforts, Hubble has been brought to the height of its scientific capacity.”

Hubble had been running continuously for 31 years before a problem in June 2021 nearly knocked the satellite down. After a month of work, NASA was able to fix the problem and keep the legendary telescope operational, and able to continue capturing some of the most breathtaking photos of the universe humans have ever seen.

Image credits: ESA / Hubble & NASA, A. Newman, M. Akhshik, K. Whitaker