Feed aggregator

Alexander Clapp, author of new nonfiction book 'Waste Wars,' tracks the world-wide blackmarket trade of our garbage

The United States Space Force is undertaking its largest training exercise ever, in order to demonstrate that it is "prepared to fight and win in space."

It's the final day of Prime Day and the Perseid meteor shower starts shortly, so now is the perfect time to save big on the Apple AirTag.

Models suggest that meeting climate targets will be virtually impossible without steep emissions cuts paired with a huge expansion of carbon management technologies

Models suggest that meeting climate targets will be virtually impossible without steep emissions cuts paired with a huge expansion of carbon management technologies

Urban trees lining streets fare better in dry spells than those in parks – now it seems that leaky water pipes are the reason for their endurance

Urban trees lining streets fare better in dry spells than those in parks – now it seems that leaky water pipes are the reason for their endurance

Explore Hubble

• Hubble Home
• Overview
• Impact & Benefits
• Science
• Observatory
• Team
• Multimedia
• News
• More

2 min read

Hubble Snaps Galaxy Cluster’s Portrait This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy cluster Abell 209. ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Postman, P. Kelly

A massive, spacetime-warping cluster of galaxies is the setting of today’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy cluster in question is Abell 209, located 2.8 billion light-years away in the constellation Cetus (the Whale).

This Hubble image of Abell 209 shows more than a hundred galaxies, but there’s more to this cluster than even Hubble’s discerning eye can see. Abell 209’s galaxies are separated by millions of light-years, and the seemingly empty space between the galaxies is filled with hot, diffuse gas that is visible only at X-ray wavelengths. An even more elusive occupant of this galaxy cluster is dark matter: a form of matter that does not interact with light. Dark matter does not absorb, reflect, or emit light, effectively making it invisible to us. Astronomers detect dark matter by its gravitational influence on normal matter. Astronomers surmise that the universe is comprised of 5% normal matter, 25% dark matter, and 70% dark energy.

Hubble observations, like the ones used to create this image, can help astronomers answer fundamental questions about our universe, including mysteries surrounding dark matter and dark energy. These investigations leverage the immense mass of a galaxy cluster, which can bend the fabric of spacetime itself and create warped and magnified images of background galaxies and stars in a process called gravitational lensing.

While this image lacks the dramatic rings that gravitational lensing can sometimes create, Abell 209 still shows subtle signs of lensing at work, in the form of streaky, slightly curved galaxies within the cluster’s golden glow. By measuring the distortion of these galaxies, astronomers can map the distribution of mass within the cluster, illuminating the underlying cloud of dark matter. This information, which Hubble’s fine resolution and sensitive instruments help to provide, is critical for testing theories of how our universe evolved.

Text Credit: ESA/Hubble

Facebook logo @NASAHubble

@NASAHubble

Instagram logo @NASAHubble

Media Contact:

Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD

Share

• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  

Details

Last Updated

Jul 11, 2025

Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Related Terms

• Hubble Space Telescope
• Astrophysics
• Astrophysics Division
• Galaxies
• Galaxy clusters
• Goddard Space Flight Center
• Gravitational Lensing

Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble

Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Hubble Gravitational Lenses

Focusing in on Gravitational Lenses

Shining a Light on Dark Matter

Words frequently used by ChatGPT, including “delve” and “meticulous,” are getting more common in spoken language, according to an analysis of more than 700,000 hours of videos and podcasts

Today’s large language models are hardly related to the kinds of machine intelligence we see in science fiction, according to Martha Wells, author of the Murderbot Diaries series

Explore Hubble

• Hubble Home
• Overview
• Impact & Benefits
• Science
• Observatory
• Team
• Multimedia
• News
• More

2 min read

Hubble Snaps Galaxy Cluster’s Portrait This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy cluster Abell 209. ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Postman, P. Kelly

A massive, spacetime-warping cluster of galaxies is the setting of today’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy cluster in question is Abell 209, located 2.8 billion light-years away in the constellation Cetus (the Whale).

This Hubble image of Abell 209 shows more than a hundred galaxies, but there’s more to this cluster than even Hubble’s discerning eye can see. Abell 209’s galaxies are separated by millions of light-years, and the seemingly empty space between the galaxies is filled with hot, diffuse gas that is visible only at X-ray wavelengths. An even more elusive occupant of this galaxy cluster is dark matter: a form of matter that does not interact with light. Dark matter does not absorb, reflect, or emit light, effectively making it invisible to us. Astronomers detect dark matter by its gravitational influence on normal matter. Astronomers surmise that the universe is comprised of 5% normal matter, 25% dark matter, and 70% dark energy.

Hubble observations, like the ones used to create this image, can help astronomers answer fundamental questions about our universe, including mysteries surrounding dark matter and dark energy. These investigations leverage the immense mass of a galaxy cluster, which can bend the fabric of spacetime itself and create warped and magnified images of background galaxies and stars in a process called gravitational lensing.

While this image lacks the dramatic rings that gravitational lensing can sometimes create, Abell 209 still shows subtle signs of lensing at work, in the form of streaky, slightly curved galaxies within the cluster’s golden glow. By measuring the distortion of these galaxies, astronomers can map the distribution of mass within the cluster, illuminating the underlying cloud of dark matter. This information, which Hubble’s fine resolution and sensitive instruments help to provide, is critical for testing theories of how our universe evolved.

Text Credit: ESA/Hubble

Facebook logo @NASAHubble

@NASAHubble

Instagram logo @NASAHubble

Media Contact:

Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD

Share

• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  

Details

Last Updated

Jul 10, 2025

Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Related Terms

• Hubble Space Telescope
• Astrophysics
• Astrophysics Division
• Galaxies
• Galaxy clusters
• Goddard Space Flight Center
• Gravitational Lensing

Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble

Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Hubble Gravitational Lenses

Focusing in on Gravitational Lenses

Shining a Light on Dark Matter

These are the best prices for Fujifilm cameras on the last day of Amazon Prime Day — prices could jump up at any moment!

A new global overview of Mars suggests dust, rather than water, is the source of mysterious streaks there

The July full moon didn't disappoint as it rode low across the horizon last night and we've got the photos to prove it.

Musicologists and neuroscientists have been trying to understand what turns speech into music.

President Donald Trump has tapped Transportation Secretary and former reality TV star Sean Duffy to lead NASA on an interim basis. Here's what we know about the man.

3I/ATLAS isn't just fascinating because it is the third interstellar visitor found in the solar system; new research suggests it's also the oldest comet ever seen, at over 7 billion years old.

Image: The varied landscape of England’s Lake District is featured in this image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.