A giant smiley face in space? Hubble captures remarkable galaxy cluster
According to officials, the two bright spots that form the eyes of the smiley face are orange galaxies, while a white galaxy forms the small nose and the arc of the smile; the head shape is caused by gravitational lensing.
NASA’s Hubble Telescope captures stunning images of Trifid Nebula
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Astronomers are fascinated by new images captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope that appear to show a smiley face in our vast universe.
NASA officials used the Hubble Space Telescope to capture a galaxy cluster in the dark corners of our universe, arranged to look like a smiley face.
According to officials, the two bright spots that form the eyes of the smiley face are orange galaxies, while a white galaxy forms the small nose and the arc of the smile; the head shape is caused by gravitational lensing.
Galaxy cluster forms a smiley face in the dark corners of the universe. (@NASA / X)
Gravitational lensing is a natural effect that occurs when a massive object, like a galaxy cluster, warps space and time, causing light to bend, distort, and magnify as it passes around the object.
Albert Einstein was among the first to describe this sequence of events, fusing space and time into a term known as "spacetime" and describing gravity as the curvature of spacetime.
Many other orange and white galaxies are sprinkled across the universe, along with one bright star with diffraction spikes at the bottom of the image.
NASA’s Solar File: File: Dynamics Observatory caught the Sun "smiling." (@NASASun / Twitter / NASA)
SAY CHEESE! SUN SHOWCASES SMILEY APPEARANCE
In the past, astronomers were able to observe a similar occurrence in 2022, when officials at NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory discovered the sun developed a face-like pattern during a solar eclipse.