Galaxy cluster MACS j1149.5+223 and a supernova four times over
This image shows the huge galaxy cluster MACS J1149+2223, whose light took over 5 billion years to reach us. The huge mass of the cluster and one of the galaxies within it is bending the light from a supernova behind them and creating four separate images of it. The light has been magnified and distorted due to gravitational lensing and as a result the images are arranged around the elliptical galaxy in a formation known as an Einstein cross. A close-up of the Einstein cross is shown in the inset.