A perfect shot of an "Einstein ring" has been snapped by NASA.
The halo is caused by light from a distant galaxy passing through warped space-time surrounding another galaxy aligned between the distant light source and Earth. One of the best examples of the phenomenon ever captured is the new James Webb Space Telescope image.
One of the oldest galaxies in the universe is located around 12 billion light-years away from Earth. The bright blue light at the center of the ring is so massive that it warps the space time around it. The light travels through the warped space-time as it reaches the foreground. It looks like the light has curved around the galaxy, but the waves we see have been traveling in a straight line the whole time.
Einstein's theory of relativity can be seen in a number of ways.
The weird effect is similar to how glass lens change their color. This phenomenon makes the light from distant galaxies look closer than they really are. The lens is made from space time, not glass. Researchers have dubbed this effect, gystian lensing. Einstein came up with his theory of relativity in 1912.
The image of the JOS18 Einstein ring was posted in the r/Astronomy section of the internet. The shot was created by an astronomer using publicly available data collected by the Mid-Infrared instrument.
If it weren't for the light-bending properties of gravity, we wouldn't be able to see it. A small blob of light is what the galaxy would look like without lensing.
The new image is more detailed than the previous one.
A paper about the discovery of the distant galaxy was published in the journal Nature.
According to ScienceAlert (opens in new tab), the initial shot of the picture had a lower resolution and the ring of light was not visible.
One of the Einstein rings has been captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. The Einstein rings were not as complete as the one in the new picture.
Einstein rings are very rare because they require both the distant and foreground galaxies to be in perfect alignment with the observer. It will be easier to spot them in the future thanks to the more advanced sensors.
The recent release of a photo shows the high-definition view of the universe that will be provided to both researchers and the public. In July, the space telescope released its first pictures, which included a stunning image of Jupiter and a view of the CartwheelGalaxy.
It was originally published on Live Science
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