{
  "id": 14306396,
  "title": "NASA Shares Image of a Galactic Smiley Face",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/nasa-shares-image-of-a-galactic-smiley-face",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-13T22:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Nautilus",
    "slug": "nautilus",
    "url": "https://nautil.us/nasa-shares-image-of-a-galactic-smiley-face-1285779/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Humanity's tendency to perceive faces and patterns even in non-existent places is a common trait. NASA recently shared an image showcasing this innate human ability. The image in question is of a galaxy cluster named SDSS J1038+4849, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope back in 2015 and located approximately 4.5 billion light-years away in the Big Dipper constellation. The photograph depicts two yellow \"eyes,\" which are actually massive galaxies. However, the central smile was not formed by any cosmic entity but by a phenomenon that Einstein's general theory of relativity predicts: gravitational lensing.",
  "summary": "Nature has blessed us with brains that are hardwired to find patterns and recognize faces, so it’s no surprise we tend to notice faces even where there aren’t any. Although they may be better educated, the humans at NASA are no different than the rest of us. They recently posted an image of a smiley face discovered amongst the stars. The galaxy cluster SDSS J1038+4849 as imaged by the Hubble…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}