Hubble Captures Galaxy Cluster

Andrea Gianopoulos

May 22, 2026

A cluster of galaxies dots the field of view. The cluster holds spiral and elliptical galaxies against a black background. A foreground star with diffraction spikes shines brightly toward the bottom, center-right of the image.

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Hubble Captures Galaxy Cluster

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured this scene of galaxy cluster MACS J1141.6-1905 in visible and infrared light.NASA, ESA, H. Ebeling (University of Hawaii); Image Processing: G. Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

Look closely at this image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and you’ll see galaxies of various shapes and sizes clustered together toward the center-left of the image. A few foreground stars shine brightly and are easily distinguished by the spikes that appear to extend outward from each star. These spikes, called diffraction spikes, are the result of how point sources of light (such as stars) bend, or diffract, around the supports for Hubble’s secondary mirror.

Hubble captured this scene of MACS J1141.6-1905 in visible and infrared light. The image includes data from two Hubble observing programs that looked at massive galaxy clusters that shine very brightly in X-rays. Both programs were looking for distant galaxies gravitationally lensed by the cluster. They also wanted to better understand the physical nature of interactions at each cluster’s core. An extra bonus was the addition of Hubble’s visible and infrared observations of these very bright X-ray clusters to its archive.

Hubble’s archive of 1.7 million observations, and counting, is a valuable tool for current and future astronomers. They can mine Hubble’s 36 years of observations and examine the data with new tools, enabling researchers to make new discoveries.

MACS J1141.6-1905 is around four billion light-years away in the constellation Crater (the Cup).

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Media Contact:

Claire AndreoliNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MDclaire.andreoli@nasa.gov