Chandra Release - July 6, 2004

Visual Description: Cloverleaf Quasar

 This image of the so-called Cloverleaf Quasar (a.k.a. H1413+117) includes a small X-ray image from Chandra at upper left, and an illustration at center. At the center of the illustration, there is a spiral galaxy with a bright core seen face on, a very bright star at the edge of the galaxy’s bottom and a bright quasar to the right of the galaxy, as if it’s behind the galaxy. A tiny picture of the Chandra telescope is at left with arrows showing the direction of how light from the single quasar can be bent and split into four separate images. Single cosmic objects may appear as multiple images to astronomers through this process known as gravitational lensing. This effect occurs when the gravitational field of one or more foreground galaxies bends and magnifies light from a much more distant object to produce multiple images, as shown in the artist's rendering. In the case of the Cloverleaf quasar, Chandra's X-ray view (at upper left) found four separate images of this single quasar, shown as 4 bright purple-white spots arranged in a diamond like pattern.  The quasar that was lensed is 11 billion light years away.