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4w ago

James Webb Telescope Unveils Rare Einstein Ring in Stunning Detail

The telescope captured the rare gravitational lensing phenomenon during the SLICE survey, offering unprecedented insights into distant galaxies.

In the centre is an elliptical galaxy, seen as an oval-shaped glow around a small bright core. Around this is wrapped a broad band of light, appearing like a spiral galaxy stretched and warped into a ring, with bright blue lines drawn through it where the spiral arms have been stretched into circles. A few distant objects are visible around the ring on a black background. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, G. Mahler Acknowledgement: M. A. McDonald
A conception of the James Webb Space Telescope orbiting 1 million miles from Earth.

Overview

  • The James Webb Space Telescope captured a rare Einstein ring, a phenomenon caused by gravitational lensing, during the Strong Lensing and Cluster Evolution (SLICE) survey.
  • Einstein rings occur when the mass of a foreground galaxy warps space-time, bending light from a background galaxy into a ring-like shape.
  • The captured Einstein ring features a foreground elliptical galaxy and a background spiral galaxy, with visible details such as star clusters and gas structures.
  • This discovery highlights the telescope's advanced infrared capabilities, allowing it to study faint and distant galaxies that would otherwise be inaccessible.
  • The James Webb Space Telescope, a collaboration between NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency, continues to push the boundaries of cosmic exploration.