"ESA / Webb, NASA & CSA, G. Mahler Day 7 of the 2025 Space Telescope Advent Calendar: A Warped View Through an Einstein Ring. You are seeing two galaxies here, one in front of the other. The more distant spiral galaxy appears warped and distorted due to the gravitational lensing occurring around a massive, much closer galaxy, which is part of galaxy cluster SMACSJ0028.2-7537."
"You are seeing two galaxies here, one in front of the other. The more distant spiral galaxy appears warped and distorted due to the gravitational lensing occurring around a massive, much closer galaxy, which is part of galaxy cluster SMACSJ0028.2-7537. The circular shape of the distortions gives the phenomenon its name, Einstein ring, first predicted by Albert Einstein in 1912. See the full advent calendar here, where a new image will be revealed each day until December 25."
A massive foreground galaxy in galaxy cluster SMACSJ0028.2-7537 bends light from a more distant spiral galaxy, producing visible warping and distortion. Gravitational lensing by the foreground mass creates circular distortions that appear as an Einstein ring. The lensing effect stretches and magnifies the background spiral, altering its apparent shape into arcs around the closer galaxy. The ring-like phenomenon was first predicted by Albert Einstein in 1912. The image is part of a Space Telescope Advent Calendar series credited to ESA / Webb, NASA & CSA and G. Mahler, with daily image reveals through December 25.
Read at The Atlantic
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