YEP, THIS PICTURE is the real deal – NASA and the European Space Agency have discovered a cheery cluster of galaxies that appears to be smiling.
This image from the Hubble Space Telescope is of a cluster of galaxies under the effect of “gravitational lensing” (or the way the galaxy’s gravitational pull bends the light).
Let’s allow NASA/ESA to explain it:
Galaxy clusters are the most massive structures in the Universe and exert such a powerful gravitational pull that they can warp the spacetime around them and act as cosmic lenses which can magnify, distort and bend the light behind them.
In this case, where the galaxies, lens and observers are lining up just right, a ring (called an Einstein Ring) is produced – and it looks like a cute smiley face.
So if Tuesday is getting you down, remember: The Universe is smiling at you. Aww.
