Gravitational lens. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image showing the phenomenon of gravitational lensing. At centre is a cluster of galaxies (yellow) called 0024+1654 about 5 billion light years away. About twice as far away is a galaxy. The intense gravitational field of the cluster curves the space around it. Light from the distant galaxy passes through this curved space and is magnified, brightened and distorted by it much as a curved piece of glass - lens - affects light. The result is a pattern of images of the distant galaxy (blue arcs left, upper left and right). This image was made on 14 October 1994.

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