エイベルS1063銀河団（中央）
まったくもって、実に驚きだ。
欧州宇宙機関（ESA）は7月21日、ハッブル宇宙望遠鏡が観測したエイベルS1063銀河団の画像を公開した。
上の画像が、その姿をとらえたものだ。ハッブル宇宙望遠鏡の研究グループによると、そこには「数十億の未知の新世界が含まれている可能性がある」という。
画像の中心近くに見えているエイベルS1063銀河団は、約40億歳だ。
ハッブル宇宙望遠鏡はそれ自体が非常な解像度をもつが、この画像は「重力レンズ」と呼ばれる自然現象によってよりいっそう印象的なものとなっている。
ハッブル宇宙望遠鏡のチームによると、「巨大な銀河団がその裏の銀河からの光を歪め、増幅させる」という。そうして変化した時空連続体（時空を4次元多様体としてとらえること）により「通常では非常に微かで観測することができない最初期の宇宙の銀河を発見し、研究することに成功した」という。
こうした状況によってエイベルS1063よりもはるかに古い銀河を観測できるようになった。宇宙専門サイト「Space.com」によると、エイベルS1063の裏側では約127億歳の銀河も発見されたという。
別の角度から見たエイベルS1063銀河団
ハフポストUS版より翻訳・加筆しました。
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