Arc in infrared light (Hubble): The distant galaxy, dubbed A1689-zD1, appears as a greyish-white smudge in the close-up view taken with Hubble's NICMOS. The galaxy is brimming with star birth. Hubble and Spitzer worked together to show that it is one of the youngest and likely the most distant galaxies ever discovered. Astronomers estimate that the galaxy is 13 billion light-years away. Abell 1689 is 2.2 billion light-years away.

Name: A1689-zD1, Abell 1689
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : Gravitationally LensedEarly Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Virgo
Distance: z=7.6 (redshift)
Release date: 12 February 2008, 15:00
Credit: NASA; ESA; L. Bradley (Johns Hopkins University); R. Bouwens (University of California, Santa Cruz); H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University); and G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz)

Wide-field image of the Virgo constellation (ground-based image): An image of the region of sky around Abell 1689 in the constellation of Virgo, from the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The field-of-view is approximately 2.9 x 2.7 degrees.

Name: A1689-zD1, Abell 1689
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : Gravitationally LensedEarly Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Galaxies
Constellation: Virgo
Distance: z=7.6 (redshift)
Release date: 12 February 2008, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)

New Gravitational Lenses in the Distant Universe: In this image, six examples of the rich diversity of 67 strong gravitational lenses found in the COSMOS survey. The lenses were discovered in a recently completed, large set of observations as part of a project to survey a single 1.6-square-degree field of sky (nine times the area of the full Moon) with several space-based and Earth-based observatories. Gravitational lenses occur when light travelling towards us from a distant galaxy is magnified and distorted as it encounters a massive object between the galaxy and us. These gravitational lenses often allow astronomers to peer much further back into the early Universe than they would normally be able to. The COSMOS project, led by Nick Scoville at the California Institute of Technology, used observations from several observatories including the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, the XMM-Newton spacecraft, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Very Large Telescope (VLT), and the Subaru Telescope. In total 67 gravitational lenses were found.

Name: COSMOS FIELD
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : Gravitationally LensedEarly Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Cosmology
Release date: 19 February 2008, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, C. Faure (Zentrum für Astronomie, University of Heidelberg) and J.P. Kneib (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille)

The New Gravitational Lenses from the COSMOS project: The positions of 67 newly found gravitational lenses are shown in this image. Use the zoom tool to examine them more closely.

Name: COSMOS FIELD
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : Gravitationally LensedEarly Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Cosmology
Release date: 19 February 2008, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, C. Faure (Zentrum für Astronomie, University of Heidelberg) and J.P. Kneib (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille)

Excerpt of the ACS image: An Eistein ring can be seen in the object 0038+4133, marked in a red circle in this image. An Einstein ring is a complete circle image of a background galaxy, which is formed when the background galaxy, a massive, foreground galaxy, and the Hubble Space Telescope are all aligned perfectly. Use the zoom tool to examine it more closely. This lens is an example of the rich diversity of 67 strong gravitational lenses found in the COSMOS survey. The lenses were discovered in a recently completed, large set of observations as part of a project to survey a single 1.6-square-degree field of sky (nine times the area of the full Moon) with several space-based and Earth-based observatories. Gravitational lenses occur when light travelling towards us from a distant galaxy is magnified and distorted as it encounters a massive object between the galaxy and us. These gravitational lenses often allow astronomers to peer much further back into the early Universe than they would normally be able to.

Name: COSMOS FIELD
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : Gravitationally LensedEarly Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Cosmology
Release date: 19 February 2008, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, C. Faure (Zentrum für Astronomie, University of Heidelberg) and J.P. Kneib (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille)

Excerpt of the ACS image: An Eistein ring can be seen in the object 0038+4133, marked in a red circle in this image. An Einstein ring is a complete circle image of a background galaxy, which is formed when the background galaxy, a massive, foreground galaxy, and the Hubble Space Telescope are all aligned perfectly. Use the zoom tool to examine it more closely. This lens is an example of the rich diversity of 67 strong gravitational lenses found in the COSMOS survey. The lenses were discovered in a recently completed, large set of observations as part of a project to survey a single 1.6-square-degree field of sky (nine times the area of the full Moon) with several space-based and Earth-based observatories. Gravitational lenses occur when light travelling towards us from a distant galaxy is magnified and distorted as it encounters a massive object between the galaxy and us. These gravitational lenses often allow astronomers to peer much further back into the early Universe than they would normally be able to.

Name: COSMOS FIELD
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : Gravitationally LensedEarly Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Cosmology
Release date: 19 February 2008, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, C. Faure (Zentrum für Astronomie, University of Heidelberg) and J.P. Kneib (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille)

Excerpt of the ACS image: An Eistein ring can be seen in the object 0038+4133, marked in a red circle in this image. An Einstein ring is a complete circle image of a background galaxy, which is formed when the background galaxy, a massive, foreground galaxy, and the Hubble Space Telescope are all aligned perfectly. Use the zoom tool to examine it more closely. This lens is an example of the rich diversity of 67 strong gravitational lenses found in the COSMOS survey. The lenses were discovered in a recently completed, large set of observations as part of a project to survey a single 1.6-square-degree field of sky (nine times the area of the full Moon) with several space-based and Earth-based observatories. Gravitational lenses occur when light travelling towards us from a distant galaxy is magnified and distorted as it encounters a massive object between the galaxy and us. These gravitational lenses often allow astronomers to peer much further back into the early Universe than they would normally be able to.

Name: COSMOS FIELD
Type: Early Universe : Galaxy : Type : Gravitationally LensedEarly Universe : Galaxy : Grouping : Cluster
Category: Cosmology
Release date: 19 February 2008, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, C. Faure (Zentrum für Astronomie, University of Heidelberg) and J.P. Kneib (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille)