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Description
By observing 25 massive galaxy clusters with HST's new panchromatic imaging capabilities (Wide-field Camera 3, WFC3, and the Advanced Camera for Surveys, ACS), CLASH will accomplish its four primary science goals:
- Map, with unprecedented accuracy, the distribution of dark matter in galaxy clusters using strong and
weak gravitational lensing;
- Detect Type Ia supernovae out to redshift z ~ 2, allowing us to test the constancy of dark energy's
repulsive force over time and look for any evolutionary effects in the supernovae themselves;
- Detect and characterize some of the most distant galaxies yet discovered at z > 7 (when the Universe
was younger than 800 million years old - or less than 6% of its current age);
- Study the internal structure and evolution of the galaxies in and behind these clusters.
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