A multinational team of astronomers from Spain, Italy and the USA, have found a new Einstein Ring, a rare image of a distant galaxy lensed by gravity.
In his seminal general theory of relativity published a century ago, Albert Einstein predicted that gravity would distort the fabric of spacetime, and that light would follow curved paths as a result. Astronomers first observed this effect in 1919, by measuring the position of stars near the Sun during the 1919 total solar eclipse, and noting a slight shift resulting from the gravitational field of our nearest star. On a larger scale, light from distant galaxies is bent by black holes and massive galaxies that lie between them and the Earth. The intervening objects act as lenses, creating arcs and ‘Einstein rings’ of light.
These rings are still comparatively rare and usually appear as small features in the sky. This makes them hard to see clearly, and most are observed with radio telescopes, or with the Hubble Space Telescope.
The newly discovered ring lies in the direction of the constellation of Sculptor in the southern sky.
https://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/2843-a-new-einstein-ring
In his seminal general theory of relativity published a century ago, Albert Einstein predicted that gravity would distort the fabric of spacetime, and that light would follow curved paths as a result. Astronomers first observed this effect in 1919, by measuring the position of stars near the Sun during the 1919 total solar eclipse, and noting a slight shift resulting from the gravitational field of our nearest star. On a larger scale, light from distant galaxies is bent by black holes and massive galaxies that lie between them and the Earth. The intervening objects act as lenses, creating arcs and ‘Einstein rings’ of light.
These rings are still comparatively rare and usually appear as small features in the sky. This makes them hard to see clearly, and most are observed with radio telescopes, or with the Hubble Space Telescope.
The newly discovered ring lies in the direction of the constellation of Sculptor in the southern sky.
https://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/2843-a-new-einstein-ring