ALMA image of "Shadow Blaster"
noirlab_noirlab2615e June 17th, 2026
Credit: 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)
This image shows a close-up of 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 spacetime, acting as a cosmic magnifying glass that enlarges and distorts the image of a more distant galaxy behind it. In this case, a foreground galaxy, which is not visible in this image, is bending the light of the more distant Shadow Blaster galaxy, creating multiple distorted images of it that appear here as yellow arcs. See an image of Shadow Blaster with the foreground galaxy here.
Provider: NOIRLab
Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2615e/
Curator: NSF's NOIRLab, Tucson, AZ, USA
Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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Image Details
Position Details
Color Mapping
- ID
- noirlab2615e
- Subject Category
- Subject Name
- Credits
- 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)
- Release Date
- 2026-06-17T02:00:00
- Lightyears
- Redshift
- Reference Url
- https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2615e/
- Type
- Observation
- Image Quality
- Distance Notes
- Facility
- Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
- Instrument
- Band 5
- Color Assignment
- Orange
- Band
- Millimeter
- Bandpass
- 198 GHz
- Central Wavelength
- 1514000
- Start Time
- Integration Time
- Dataset ID
- None
- Notes
- Coordinate Frame
- ICRS
- Equinox
- J2000
- Reference Value
- 60.52199913912439, -4.407867439099363
- Reference Dimension
- 1080.0, 1080.0
- Reference Pixel
- 540.0, 540.0
- Scale
- -1.3454330863486653e-06, 1.3454330863486653e-06
- Rotation
- -0
- Coordinate System Projection:
- TAN
- Quality
- Full
- FITS Header
- Notes
- Creator (Curator)
- NSF's NOIRLab
- URL
- https://noirlab.edu
- Name
- Telephone
- Address
- 950 North Cherry Ave.
- City
- Tucson
- State/Province
- AZ
- Postal Code
- 85719
- Country
- USA
- Rights
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
- Publisher
- NSF's NOIRLab
- Publisher ID
- noirlab
- Resource ID
- noirlab2615e
- Resource URL
- https://noirlab.edu/public/resources/image/original/noirlab2615e.tif
- Related Resources
- Metadata Date
- 2026-06-14T08:07:44.455387
- Metadata Version
- 1.1
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
