James Webb Space Telescope's 'Warped' El Gordo Galaxy Cluster View Explained

Space.com

James Webb Space Telescope has delivered stunning views of the "gravitationally distorted realms" of the El Gordo galaxy cluster, according to Space.com.  Credits Image: NASA, ESA, CSA Science: Jose M. Diego (IFCA), Brenda Frye (University of Arizona), Patrick Kamieneski (ASU), Tim Carleton (ASU), Rogier Windhorst (ASU) Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Jake Summers (ASU), Jordan C. J. D'Silva (UWA), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Aaron Robotham (UWA), Rogier Windhorst (ASU) Video: Danielle Kirshenblat (STScI)

Transcript

00:00This infrared image taken by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope depicts El Gordo, a cluster

00:06of hundreds of galaxies that existed when the universe was 6.2 billion years old.

00:12This view displays a clear assortment of unusual distorted background galaxies that were suggested

00:17in previous Hubble images of the area.

00:23The El Gordo Galaxy Cluster is a classic example of gravitational lensing, where the cluster's

00:28gravity bends and distorts light from faraway objects behind it.

00:33Due to El Gordo's lensing, distant galaxies become brighter and appear larger, allowing

00:38us to see parts of the universe that would otherwise be too faint to observe.

00:43This lensing effect can also cause galaxies to appear duplicated or mirrored.

00:49One of the most prominent features is the bright red arc.

00:52Nicknamed El Enzuelo or the fish hook, the light from this galaxy traveled for 10.6 billion

00:58years to reach Earth.

01:01Its unique red color is the result of dust from within the galaxy itself, as well as cosmological

01:07redshift, which refers to the redder hues from light waves that are stretched out due to their

01:11extreme increasing distance from us.

01:15The long pencil thin line is known as La Flocka, or the thin one.

01:20It is another lensed background galaxy whose light also took nearly 11 billion years to

01:25reach Earth.

01:27Not far from La Flocka is another lensed galaxy containing an image of a single red giant star

01:32nicknamed Coir.

01:34It's nearly impossible to see lensed red giant stars without the infrared technology

01:39and sensitivity of Webb.

01:41Coir is the first individual red giant star observed at a staggering distance of over

01:4610 billion light years from Earth, and is the first of its kind spotted by Webb.

01:51With this new image of El Gordo, a gateway to groundbreaking scientific discoveries is unveiled, promising

01:57a wealth of new knowledge and insights into the captivating mysteries of our ever-expanding

02:02universe.

02:02A yeah, that's what we're talking about.

02:04There are a lot of things around us.

02:05We're kind of very good-mindedness.

02:06To be continued...

02:07...we do not know what it is.

02:08So, you can see in the heavens, we can see in the heavens, we can see in the heavens,

02:11but there are also animals and animals.

02:12There are also animals who have to deal with it.

02:13There are animals that have stayed for life.

02:15There are animals, there are animals that have wider yet-centered, and these animals have a

02:16different appearance of the frozen ones to be believed.

02:17There are animals that have been a different life that does the earth.

02:18There are animals that have ever seen in the heavens, so we will never

02:20come up with it when we can see the entire forest.

02:20Our humans.

02:21And we can see that the world that has been a natural surface of this.

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