Mass map of galaxy cluster MCS J0416.1â2403 using strong and w

A massive galaxy cluster sprawls across the sky in this July 24 Hubble Space Telescope image.Filled with stars, the galaxy cluster, dubbed MCS J0416.1-2403, weighs in at 160 trillion times more than the sun. It is one of six such clusters under study by the space telescope.The gravitational pull of the cluster is so intense that it bends light from its galaxies, blurring and elongating their appearance slightly, a gravitational "lens effect" that magnifies their appearance.—Dan Vergano, Photo Editing by Sherry Brukbacher

Photograph by ESA/Hubble, NASA, HST Frontier Fields Acknowledgement: Mathilde Jauzac (Durham University, UK and Astrophysics & Cosmology Research Unit, South Africa) and Jean-Paul Kneib (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)

Week's Best Space Pictures: Galaxies Stretch, Stars Tilt, and Mars Beckons

Secrets of a frozen moon, gravity playing tricks on galaxies, and the watery past of a desert world are spotlighted in this week's best space pictures.

August 2, 2014