ESA Science & Technology - Lensed star in the cluster MACS j1149.5+223

This image shows the huge galaxy cluster MACS J1149.5+223, whose light has taken over five billion years to reach us.

Highlighted is the position where the star LS1 appeared – its image magnified by a factor 2000 by gravitational microlensing. The galaxy in which the star is located can be seen three times on the sky – multiplied by strong gravitational lensing.

Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Rodney (John Hopkins University, USA) and the FrontierSN team; T. Treu (University of California Los Angeles, USA), P. Kelly (University of California Berkeley, USA) and the GLASS team; J. Lotz (STScI) and the Frontier Fields team; M. Postman (STScI) and the CLASH team; and Z. Levay (STScI)