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In December last year, Hubble captured an image of a distant galaxy that, thanks to gravitational lenses, appears to be the perfect “Einstein ring.” A year later, astronomers revealed what they had learned from examining the images.
NASA named the image a “liquid ring” galaxy because it appeared due to the gravitational lensing effect. More precisely, the phenomenon shown in the image below is called the “Einstein ring”. Einstein rings are created when light from a galaxy, group of galaxies, or stars passes through a large object moving parallel to Earth. Due to what is called a gravitational lens, light is shifted due to gravity, making it appear as if it came from two different places. If the object, gravity, and observation device were perfectly aligned, light would appear as a ring.
Gravitational lenses are a phenomenon that allows astronomers to see great distances without the large and complex instruments that normally require them. betapiksel Have a detailed description of the process previous article, but in short, gravity distorts space in such a way that it “optically” directs light at a telescope – in this case Hubble – and gives it the ability to see galaxies that would normally be too far away to study with currents. Physical telescopes and technology. NASA describes it as looking through a giant magnifying glass.
When NASA Originally issued The image of the galaxy – called GAL-CLUS-022058s – depicts it as a very strange and rare phenomenon.
“GAL-CLUS-022058s is the largest and most complete Einstein ring ever found in our world. Astronomers studying Einstein’s rings have dubbed this object a “liquid ring,” referring to its parental appearance and constellation.”
at the moment, said NASA After examining the images and conducting further research, astronomers were able to measure the galaxy’s distance from Earth as 9.4 billion light years, placing the galaxy at the peak of star formation in cosmic evolution.
“The very high star formation rates in the brightest, very early, very dusty galaxies cause star formation a thousand times faster than in our galaxy. This could help explain today’s rapid accumulation of giant elliptical galaxies,” NASA said.
Astronomers can calculate that the galactic light is amplified by a factor of 20.
“This magnification, enhanced by the Universe, has brought Hubble’s observation capabilities to the equivalent of a 48-meter (157-foot) aperture telescope. The lens effect also creates multiple views around the curved arc of a single background magnifying galaxy.”
Astronomers have carefully modeled the lens effect on the galaxy’s image to derive its physical properties.
“Such a model can only be obtained through Hubble imaging,” explains lead researcher Anastasio Diaz-Sánchez of the Universidad Politecnica de Cartagena in Spain. “Specifically, Hubble helped us identify four repeating images and stellar masses of the lensed galaxy.”
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, S.Jha; Acknowledgments: L.Shatz
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