Image courtesy of ESA/Hubble & NASA, H. Nayyeri, L. Marchetti, J. Lowenthal.
Hubble Space Telescope has snapped a stunning photo of one of the most distant Einstein rings ever found. The luminous halo of light aligns perfectly with another galaxy, making it look like a cosmic engagement ring.
The Einstein ring, named HerS J020941.1+001557, is
made of light from a galaxy 19.5 billion light-years from Space is wonderful ‘and
full of surprises. Recently, the “Hubble Space Telescope snapped an extremely rare,
near-perfect ring of gravitationally warped light, known as an "Einstein
ring," shining from a galaxy in the early universe. The luminous halo
lines up perfectly with another galaxy, making it look like a diamond-studded
engagement ring.”
The Live Science article had this to say: “Einstein
rings occur when light from a distant galaxy is bent around a closer galaxy
or black hole that
is perfectly aligned between the distant object and the observer. This bending
effect, known as gravitational lensing, is caused by light passing
through space-time that
has been warped by the immense gravity exerted by the foreground object. The light
travels in a straight line through the curved space-time,
Source:
Harry Baker, 2024. Stunning 'Einstein engagement ring' from the early universe is one of the oldest ever discovered | Live Science 9 February
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