Information on the gravitational lens J033238-275653, recently discovered in deep images taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope during NICMOS imaging of the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (UDF).

The lens is a redshift z = 0.62 field elliptical galaxy with a dramatic blue arc.
The arc has a photometrically estimated redshift of about 2. There's also a candidate counter-arc with similar internal structure to the main arc, as well as fainter arcs, such as the wraith-like one to the south (right) of the elliptical.

We have a paper ACS Observations of a Strongly Lensed Arc in a Field Elliptical accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
It may be downloaded here in PDF or compressed PostScript format:

             udfparc.pdf
             udfparc.ps.gz

Link to pictures of the lens and surrounding field!

STScI photo release on J033238-275653.


John Blakeslee
jpb  at  pha . jhu . edu
Home