IRC 0218 lensing feature without foreground cluster

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a region containing the most distant cosmic lens yet found, a massive elliptical galaxy whose powerful gravity is magnifying the light from a faraway galaxy behind it.

In this image astronomers have subtracted the image of the giant red elliptical to show a more distant spiral galaxy. The glow of young stars makes the galaxy appear blue. The white area at upper right is probably a region of star formation.