The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Hubble Space Telescope have collaborated to capture a vibrant image of a distant galaxy cluster, officially known as MACS0416 but colloquially referred to as the 'Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster'. Located approximately 4.3 billion light-years from Earth, this cluster is a pair of galaxy clusters on a path to merge, eventually forming one enormous cluster.
The image was created by combining the observational powers of both telescopes. Hubble captured visible light, while Webb, with its advanced infrared capabilities, added depth to the image. The resulting image reveals a landscape of galaxies in various colors, with the shortest wavelengths of light color-coded blue and the longest wavelengths red.
The image also unveiled 14 new transient objects within the cluster. These objects, which change in brightness over time, were identified due to a phenomenon known as 'gravitational lensing', a concept first acknowledged by Albert Einstein. This phenomenon amplified the light from the Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster, making the transients visible.
The PEARLS project, led by Rogier Windhorst from Arizona State University, utilizes the Webb telescope to build upon Hubble's discoveries. The Northern Ecliptic Pole (NEP), a region where JWST can continuously point to and take data throughout the year, is ideal for acquiring time-domain observations in the future.
Two papers describing the research are published in Astronomy & Astrophysics and are forthcoming in The Astrophysical Journal, further detailing the findings and the collaborative efforts of the two telescopes.