🔭 Hubble Captures Two Galaxy Clusters in the Middle of a Cosmic Collision

Hubble observed the massive galaxy cluster CL0016+1609 (MACS J0018.5+1626), revealing that it is actually two galaxy clusters merging together.

Although Hubble cannot see dark matter directly, astronomers used gravitational lensing to map its distribution and better understand how these colossal collisions shape the large-scale structure of the Universe.

The observations also uncovered hundreds of extremely distant galaxies, whose light was magnified by the cluster’s immense gravity.

Credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble