Researchers observed "Pandora's Cluster", which is a distant galaxy cluster with a violent past.
Hubble's Frontier Fields observing program used the magnifying qualities of the galaxy cluster to look into the far universe, an ESA/Hubble Information Center news release reported.
The galaxy cluster, which is formally called Abell 2744, may have formed from a "cosmic pile-up of multiple galaxy clusters" the news release reported.
In 2011 the researchers observed the cluster using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in an effort to learn more about its history. The researchers determined at least four galaxies had crashed into one another to spawn the "weird and wonderful effects" that gave Abell 2744 its nicknames "Pandora's Cluster."
"A mix of hazy elliptical galaxies and [colorful] spirals can be seen clumping together in the [center] of this image. The effects of the cluster's gravity can be seen in the blue arcs and distorted shapes that are scattered across the frame, including galaxies that seem to be bleeding into the surrounding space. The arcs are actually the distorted images of galaxies far in the distance," the news release reported.
The Frontier Fields has five other targets that it plans to pursue in the future; the program will observe the "lensing affect" surrounding galaxies in hopes of learning more about far-off space.
Gravitational lensing is a "phenomenon caused by an object's influence on the space-time around it," the news release reported. Galaxy clusters such as Abell 2744 have the ability to "warp and distort" space-time. When the space-time is interfered with it causes light from objects obscured by the lens is also warped. This is what causes the "bizarre array of optical effects" that makes Pandora's Cluster so intriguing.
"It caused a cosmic space invader to appear around cluster Abell 68 (heic1304) by creating mirror images of one galaxy, as well as smearing galaxies out into arcs, and creating multiple images of individual objects," the news release reported.
Lensing also causes images to be magnified, which allows researchers to look at tit in greater detail as well as spot objects that would normally be too far off to detect.
