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The eye is first drawn, in this new NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month, to the central mega-monster that is galaxy cluster Abell S1063. This behemoth collection of galaxies, lying 4.5 billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Grus (the Crane), dominates the scene. Looking more closely, this dense collection of heavy galaxies is surrounded by glowing streaks of light, and these warped arcs are the true object of scientists??? interest: faint galaxies from the Universe???s distant past. Abell S1063 was previously observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope???s Frontier Fields programme. It is a strong gravitational lens: the galaxy cluster is so massive that the light of distant galaxies aligned behind it is bent around it, creating the warped arcs that we see here. Like a glass lens, it focuses the light from these faraway galaxies. The resulting images, albeit distorted, are both bright and magnified ??? enough to be observed and studied. This was the aim of Hubble???s observations, using the galaxy cluster as a magnifying glass to investigate the early Universe. The new imagery from Webb???s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) takes this quest even further back in time. This image showcases an incredible forest of lensing arcs around Abell S1063, which reveal distorted background galaxies at a range of cosmic distances, along with a multitude of faint galaxies and previously unseen features. This image is what???s known as a deep field ??? a long exposure of a single area of the sky, collecting as much light as possible to draw out the most faint and distant galaxies that don???t appear in ordinary images. With 9 separate snapshots of different near-infrared wavelengths of light, totalling around 120 hours of observing time and aided by the magnifying effect of gravitational lensing, this is Webb???s deepest gaze on a single target to date. Focusing such observing power on a massive gravitational lens, like Abell S1063, therefore h

Space

Peer into the early universe as light bends around huge galaxy cluster

Abell S1063 is so massive that the light from distant galaxies bends around it, allowing it to act as a magnifying glass to the early universe

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Physics

Do we have free will? Quantum experiments may soon reveal the answer

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Life

Fossils show puzzling lack of evolution during last ice age peak

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Space

Amazing images reveal new details in the sun’s atmosphere

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Humans

We’re about to unlock the secrets of ancient human brains

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Health

PTSD in 9/11 responders didn’t start improving for nearly a decade

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Environment

Test of AI weather forecasts shows they miss extreme storms

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Technology

Qubit breakthrough could make it easier to build quantum computers

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Humans

Before the Great Wall, Chinese rulers built a shallow ditch

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Technology

Any wall can be turned into a camera to see around corners

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Environment

Hurricanes aren’t cooling off future storms as much as they once did

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Life

First evidence of ancient birds nesting above the Arctic circle

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Life

We’re getting close to recreating the first step in evolution of life

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Humans

Humans were crafting tools from whale bones 20,000 years ago

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Humans

Medieval woman was executed and displayed on London riverbank

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Health

How fast you age is dictated by your sex, ethnicity and education

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Mathematics

You can make fair dice from any shape you like

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Space

Was Planet Nine exiled from the solar system as a baby?

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