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A trio of galaxies form what appears to be an ironic smile in a distant space with this view of the Hubble Space Telescope. This close-up image shows the galaxies of the SDSS group J0952 + 3434.
Credit: ESA / Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgment: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla)
It seems that the universe is rather satisfied with the Hubble Space Telescope. I mean, just look at that smile!
Joking aside, it's hard to miss what looks like a cosmic smiley on this Hubble telescope photo. This is particularly poignant given the difficulties that aging, Hubble, has recently had when balky gyroscopes have put the space telescope offline for weeks until a solution can be found. (This fix has been successful and Hubble is back in action.)
And so, the universe smiles.
This view of Hubble shows a vast array of galaxies, many of which come from the galaxy group SDSS J0952 + 3434. The smiling face is actually an artifice of gravity and light. Two bright galaxies form the eyes, while a third deformed galaxy forms the "smile". [The Hubble Space Telescope’s Greatest Discoveries]
The arc of this smile is due to the gravitational lens, as explained by NASA and the European Space Agency: "The lower galaxy, arc-shaped, has the characteristic shape of a gravitational lens galaxy – its light passed near massive object en route to us, causing it to become deformed and distorted. "
This photo of the Hubble Space Telescope shows a broad view of the cluster of SDSS J0952 + 3434 galaxies, three of which form a smiling face.
Credit: ESA / Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgment: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla)
This photo was captured by Hubble's wide-field camera 3, installed by astronauts during the space telescope's last maintenance mission in 2010. ESA officials released the image on Oct. 15. and NASA presented the smile of space on November 2nd. The Hubble Space The telescope is 18 years old. It was launched in space in April 1990.
"Hubble captured this image in order to understand how new stars are born in the cosmos," NASA officials said. "The WFC3 is able to see distant galaxies with unprecedented resolution – high enough to locate and study the star formation regions that compose them."
This is not the first time Hubble has captured a smile in space.
In 2015, another group of gravitational lens galaxies created a vibrant smiley face, rivaling the nose and cheeks. This face was composed of galaxies of the group SDSS J1038 + 4849
Seeing faces in the space is nothing new. But that does not mean that the universe is trying to cheer us up. The phenomenon is called pareidolia, and that is when we see familiar shapes or patterns in objects that are not actually there. The iconic Face on Mars NASA Viking Mission picture is a famous example of pareidolia.
Email Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow him. @tariqjmalik. follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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