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A distant galaxy, dating from a time when the universe was going through a “baby boom”, has been studied by astronomers thanks to an “Einstein Ring” phenomenon.
The amazing and unusual cosmic display occurs when the gravitational field of a massive object distorts space and deflects light from an object behind it.
This was first predicted by Albert Einstein in 1915, and the last sighting was 3.5 billion light years from Earth in the southern constellation of Fornax, the Furnace.
The phenomenon appears as a circle with points of light in the center and was first spotted by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope in December of last year.
A new analysis of the Hubble image was performed by a team from the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Murcia, Spain, to understand the galaxy behind the ring.
They discovered that the light of the galaxy was nine billion years old, suggesting that it appeared when the universe was only five billion years old and was going through a “baby boom” of new galactic formations and stellar.
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The astonishing and unusual cosmic display occurs when the gravitational field of a massive object distorts space and deflects light from an object behind it
An Einstein ring is a gravitational lensing effect, a universal “great illusion” that has been proposed under the law of general relativity.
Over a century ago, Einstein said that if gravity distorted space like stretching and twisting a sheet of rubber, the consequences would be that images of distant objects would be magnified, brightened, and distorted into playful mirrors.
This is because their light would be bent as it passed through the invisible tapestry of space and occasionally passed through gravitational “potholes” formed by the mass of objects that obstructed the light’s path to Earth.
Seeing the illusion itself requires powerful telescopes, such as the Hubble Space Telescope which was first launched in August 1990.
Einstein’s ring is one of the most amazing manifestations of this phenomenon – appearing as a donut-shaped loop of light.
The latest example, seen by Hubble in 2020, is cataloged as GAL-CLUS-022058s and has been dubbed the “Molten Ring” by astronomers.
The lens effect creates multiple images of the contents of a distant galaxy, magnifying the light so that it appears in an arc shape.
It took nine billion years for light from this distant galaxy to reach Earth, but the magnification gives astronomers a close-up glimpse into the distant past.
The extremely high rate of star formation in the brightest and dustiest early galaxies saw stars born at a rate a thousand times faster than in our own galaxy, leading the era to be dubbed the ‘baby boomer’. ” of the universe.
This is a reference to the baby boom that occurred after World War II, which led an entire generation, born between 1946 and 1964, to be dubbed the baby boomers.
This could help explain the rapid build-up of today’s giant elliptical galaxies, according to the team working with the Hubble Space Telescope.
The lensing effect in this image led to the distant galaxy being magnified by a factor of 20, increasing the Hubble objective to an aperture of 48 meters – from its usual 2.4m.
The lens effects also create multiple appearances around the enlarged galaxy’s curved arc against the single background, making it visible in multiple forms.
A new analysis of the Hubble image was performed by a team from the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Murcia, Spain, to understand the galaxy behind the ring
In order to derive the physical properties of the galaxy, astronomers had to accurately model the effects of the lens on the image of the galaxy.
“Such a model could only be obtained with Hubble imagery,” explained lead investigator Anastasio Díaz-Sánchez, adding that “In particular, Hubble helped us identify the four duplicate images and star clusters in the lens galaxy.”
The initial Hubble sighting was first conducted by Saurabh Jha of Rutgers, State University of New Jersey.
This cosmic spectacle, formerly known as the gravitational lens, was predicted by famous physicist Albert Einstein in 1915.
His team’s scientific goal was to use Hubble’s sharp image to reveal a complex structure detailed in the ring arcs.
Experts have been able to test his theory of general relativity in the solar system and prove that Einstein’s groundbreaking work stands up to scrutiny.
Thomas Collett, of the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth, which discovered another Einstein ring in 2018, said in a statement: “General relativity predicts that massive objects distort space-time.
“This means that when light passes near another galaxy, the path of the light is deflected.
“If two galaxies are aligned along our line of sight, it can give rise to a phenomenon, called a strong gravitational lens, where we see multiple images of the background galaxy.
“If we know the mass of the foreground galaxy, then the amount of separation between multiple images tells us if General Relativity is the correct theory for galactic scale gravity.”
We know of a few hundred powerful gravitational lenses, but most are too far away to accurately measure their mass.
EINSTEIN’S GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY
Albert Einstein (pictured) published his theory of general relativity in 1915
In 1905, Albert Einstein determined that the laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers and that the speed of light in a vacuum is independent of the motion of all observers – known as the theory of Relativity.
This revolutionary work introduced a new framework for all physics and proposed new concepts of space and time.
He then spent 10 years trying to include acceleration in theory, eventually publishing his theory of general relativity in 1915.
This determined that massive objects cause distortion in spacetime, which is experienced as gravity.
In its simplest form, it can be thought of as a giant rubber sheet with a bowling ball in the center.
In the photo, the original historical documents related to Einstein’s prediction of the existence of gravitational waves, shown at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
As the ball deforms the sheet, a planet bends the fabric of space-time, creating the force that we feel is gravity.
Any object that approaches the body falls towards it because of the effect.
Einstein predicted that if two massive bodies came together, it would create such a large ripple in space-time that it should be detectable on Earth.
This was recently demonstrated in the hit movie Interstellar.
In a segment that saw the crew visit a planet that was falling under the gravitational grip of a huge black hole, the event significantly slowed down time.
The planet’s crew barely aged while those on the ship were decades older when they returned.
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