Stunningly perfect 'Einstein ring' captured by James Webb Space Telescope

LiveScience








NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has snapped a perfect shot of an "Einstein ring." The stunning halo is the result of light from a distant galaxy passing through warped space-time surrounding another galaxy aligned between the distant light source and Earth. The new image, which was created by a Reddit-based astronomy enthusiast, is one of the best examples of the trippy astronomical phenomenon ever captured.

The ring of light in the new image comes from the distant galaxy SPT-S J041839-4751.8 (or JO418 for short), which is around 12 billion light-years from Earth, making it one of the oldest galaxies in the universe. JO418 is orientated directly behind another galaxy — the bright blue light at the center of the ring — which is so massive that its gravitational pull warps the space-time around it. As light from JO418 reaches the foreground galaxy it travels through this warped space-time. From Earth, it looks as though the light has curved around the galaxy, but the electromagnetic waves we see have actually been traveling in a straight line the entire time.

This weird effect is similar to how glass lenses redirect light. Like magnifying glasses, this phenomenon also makes the light from distant galaxies appear much closer than they actually are. The only difference is that the lens is made from gravity-mangled space-time instead of glass. As a result, researchers have dubbed this trippy effect, gravitational lensing. Albert Einstein first predicted gravitational lensing in 1912, when he devised his theory of relativity.