First image and spectrum of a Dark Matter object [heic0116]

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is based on three exposures from the WFPC2 camera at the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained in the V-, R- and I-bands, (shown as blue, green and red respectively). It shows the first image of a Dark Matter object - a MACHO (a massive compact object). It is the red object that is indicated with an arrow. This MACHO is a nearby red dwarf star that gravitationally focused light from a blue background star in another galaxy in a so-called microlensing event. Since the event six years ago, the MACHO has moved 0.134 arc-seconds on the sky and can now be clearly separated from the blue star in the Hubble image.