Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab) Acknowledgment: PI: Yuji Urata (MITOS Science Co., LTD.)

This image shows the gravitationally lensed galaxy nicknamed "Shadow Blaster," which astronomers have identified as the likely source of the high-energy neutrino event IC 210922A, detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in 2021. Gravitational lensing occurs when a very massive foreground galaxy bends space-time, acting as a cosmic magnifying glass that enlarges and distorts the image of a more distant galaxy behind it. In this case, the red foreground galaxy is bending the light of the more distant Shadow Blaster galaxy, creating multiple distorted images of it that appear here as yellow arcs. This composite image was created using data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab. See an image of Shadow Blaster without the foreground galaxy here.

Provider: NOIRLab

Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2615c/

Curator: NSF's NOIRLab, Tucson, AZ, USA

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License