Hubble Astronomers Check the Prescription of a Cosmic Lens
Thursday, May 1, 2014 - 12:40
in Astronomy & Space
Two teams of astronomers using the NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have discovered three distant exploding stars that have been magnified by the immense gravity of foreground galaxy clusters, which act like "cosmic lenses." These supernovae offer astronomers a powerful tool to check the prescription of these massive lenses, and may be the next best thing to a giant cosmic eye chart.