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The Hubble Space Telescope has begun a new mission to study six clusters of massive galaxies that could help understand how the first galaxies evolved in the universe, NASA said.
Getting to know the formation and evolution of the very first galaxies in the universe is crucial for our understanding of the cosmos. Although the Hubble Space Telescope has already detected some of the most distant galaxies known, their numbers are small, making it difficult for astronomers to determine whether they represent the universe as a whole.
Early observations from the BUFFALO survey (Beyond Ultra-Deep Border Fields and Heritage Observations) show that the Abell 370 galaxy group and a host of magnified gravitational lens galaxies surround it.
Clusters of massive galaxies like Abell 370 can help astronomers find more of these distant objects. Huge clusters of galaxies make them cosmic loupes. The mass of a cluster folds and magnifies the light of objects further away behind it, uncovering objects too faint, even for Hubble's sensitive vision.
Using this cosmological trick – called a strong gravitational lens – Hubble is able to explore some of the oldest and furthest galaxies in the universe.
The mass of Abell 370 allows to focus many galaxies. The most beautiful gravitational lens demonstration can be seen in a recent image returned by the space telescope. Nicknamed "the Dragon", this feature consists of a multitude of duplicate images of a spiral galaxy beyond the cluster.
The main mission of BUFFALO is to study how and when the most massive and bright galaxies of the universe were formed and how the formation of the first galaxies is related to the assembly of matter black.
This will enable astronomers to determine how quickly galaxies have formed over the 800 million years since the Big Bang, opening the way for observations with the next James Webb Space Telescope.
BUFFALO will be able to detect the most distant galaxies about ten times more efficiently than its ancestor. It will also benefit from other space telescopes that have already observed the regions around clusters. These datasets will be included in the search for the first galaxies.
Extended fields of view will also enable better 3D mapping of mass distribution – both of ordinary matter and dark matter – in each group of galaxies. These maps help astronomers to learn about the evolution of galaxy clusters and the nature of dark matter.
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