We get more and more from the universe thanks to the James Webb space telescope (JWST). The latter has been an image of a strange astronomical optical illusion known as Einstein’s ring, a “circle” with an eye -shaped in the dark of space, but actually It is a distorted vision of two distant galaxies in the Hydrus constellation.
In the brilliant center of this object is a galaxy, while the orange and elongated blue that surrounds it is the light of another galaxy located behind. The most distant galaxy light It looks like a ring because it has been distorted by an object known as gravitational lens.
This object occurs when the severity of a massive body, such as a galaxy or a black hole, diverts the light from another more distant. This effect is a direct consequence of Einstein’s theory of relativity, which states that the mass deforms the space-time fabric, causing the light to continue curved trajectorieslike a ball on a blanket, which creates a curvature for its own weight.
“This effect is too subtle to be observed locally, but Sometimes it becomes clearly observable when analyzing the light curvatures to huge astronomical scales, ”says ES in a statement.
This image was published by ESA and the Canadian Space Agency as its image of the month of March and was captured by the nearby infrared chamber of the JWST and also includes data from the Instruments Wide Field Chamber 3 and Advanced Chamber for Sideos of the Hubble Space Telescope. Einstein’s rings are formed when the distant light source, The massive lens object and the observer are perfectly alignedwhich makes the light appear as a complete ring that wraps the lens object. Therefore, they are rare.
In this case, the elliptical galaxy in the foreground, which is part of a cluster of galaxies called SMACSJ0028.2-7537, It is so massive that it is deviating the light of the spiral galaxy located far behind. Although its image has been distorted as the light travels around the galaxy, individual star clusters and gaseous structures are clearly visible, according to the statement.
The phenomenon of gravitational lenses also allows astronomers to better understand the universe. This is because the light emitted by distant galaxies (the oldest), is usually too dim to be observed directly from the earth. A powerful gravitational lens magnifies these galaxies, making them seem bigger and brighter, allowing astronomers to study some of the first galaxies formed after the Big Bang.
Objects like these are the ideal laboratory to investigate too faint and distant galaxies to be observed in another way, said the ESA statement. In addition, since black holes and dark matter do not emit light, scientists They can use gravitational lenses to detect and study these phenomena by measuring how they curve and magnify the bottom stars.