Mysterious blazing circle is seen in space: Alma captures Einstein's ring 12 billion light years away in highest resolution images yet
- Ring is an illusion created by the chance alignment of two galaxies
- Albert Einstein predicted the illusion in his theory of general relativity
- This predicts the gravity of a closer galaxy will bend light a distant one
A mysterious 'ring of fire' has been spotted in space thanks to Albert Einstein's theory of relatively.
The ring, located 12 billion light years away, is an illusion created by the chance alignment of two distant galaxies.
The
striking circular structure is a rare manifestation of gravitational
lensing predicted by Albert Einstein in his theory of general
relativity.
Scroll down for video
Alma's image of the gravitationally
lensed galaxy SDP.81. The bright orange central region of the ring -
Alma's highest resolution observation ever - reveals the glowing dust in
this distant galaxy
Einstein's theory predicts that the gravitational effects of the nearer galaxy will bend the light of the more distant one.
The Alma telescope in Chile was able to capture the effect in the highest resolution images ever taken by the observatory.
In
this particular case, the galaxy known as SDP.81 and an intervening
galaxy line up so perfectly that the light from the more distant one
forms a nearly complete circle as seen from Earth.
Discovered
by the Herschel Space Observatory, SDP.81 is an active star-forming
galaxy nearly 12 billion light-years away, seen at a time when the
universe was only 15 percent of its current age.
It is being lensed by a massive foreground galaxy that is a comparatively nearby 4 billion light-years away.
Share this article
3.1k shares
'Gravitational
lensing is used in astronomy to study the very distant, very early
Universe because it gives even our best telescopes an impressive boost
in power,' said Alma Deputy Program Scientist Catherine Vlahakis.
'With
the astounding level of detail in these new Alma images, astronomers
will now be able to reassemble the information contained in the
distorted image we see as a ring and produce a reconstruction of the
true image of the distant galaxy.'
An AlmaHubble composite image of the
gravitationally lensed galaxy SDP.81. The diffuse blue element at the
center of the ring is from the intervening lensing galaxy, as seen with
the Hubble Space Telescope
The
highest resolution image of SDP.81 was made by observing the relatively
bright light emitted by cosmic dust in the distant galaxy.
This striking image reveals well-defined arcs in a pattern that hints at a more complete, nearly contiguous ring structure.
Though
this intriguing interplay of gravity and light in SDP.81 has been
studied previously by other observatories, none has captured the
remarkable details of the ring structure in such detail.
'The
exquisite amount of information contained in the Alma images is
incredibly important for our understanding of galaxies in the early
universe,' said astronomer Jacqueline Hodge with the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Va.
'Astronomers use sophisticated computer programs to reconstruct lensed galaxies' true appearance.
'This
unravelling of the bending of light done by the gravitational lens will
allow us to study the actual shape and internal motion of this distant
galaxy much more clearly than has been possible until now.'
The
striking circular-like structure is a rare and manifestation of
gravitational lensing predicted by Albert Einstein (right) in his theory
of general relativity. Gravitational lensing occurs when a massive
galaxy or cluster of galaxies bends the light emitted from a more
distant galaxy
No comments:
Post a Comment