November 4, 2024<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Epic Gravity Lens Lines Up Seven-Galaxy View<\/p>\n
A galaxy cluster bends light from seven background galaxies around it, letting astronomers peer into space and time<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
By Tom Metcalfe<\/a><\/p>\n The Carousel Lens (center<\/i>) bends the light of seven background galaxies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys\/LBNL\/DOE & KPNO\/CTIO\/NOIRLab\/NSF\/AURA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n An almost impossible alignment of galaxies that forms a giant magnifying lens<\/a> could give astronomers an unprecedented deep view of the universe.<\/p>\n The Carousel Lens\u2014named for its concentric circular patterns, like the reflections in a fun-house mirror\u2014incorporates a cluster of galaxies about five billion light-years from Earth whose gravity is so intense that it magnifies the light of seven galaxies behind it, between 7.6 billion and 12 billion light-years away. This phenomenon, called gravitational lensing, occurs only when galaxies line up precisely from our perspective.<\/p>\n As seen from Earth, the massive gravitational lens creates multiple images of six of the seven background galaxies, each of whose light arrives to us by a slightly different path. If a \u201ctransient\u201d event, such as a supernova, occurs in any one of those galaxies, astronomers here will have up to four views of it at slightly different times.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we had a supernova exploding, we would have as many images of the supernova as we have images of the source,\u201d says cosmologist Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille, director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory\u2019s physics division, which took part in the lens\u2019s discovery. \u201cThat would provide just amazing information.\u201d<\/p>\n Careful observations of both the foreground cluster\u2014which may itself be made up of hundreds of galaxies\u2014and the background galaxies can help astronomers better understand how dark matter and dark energy behave, as well as more about the universe\u2019s ancient past. The farthest background galaxy is so distant that it must have developed in an early phase of the universe, which most scientists think is around 13.7 billion years old.<\/p>\n Researchers used artificial-intelligence systems to find potential gravitational lenses by sorting through millions of galactic survey images. They then arranged for the Hubble Space Telescope to image the location, revealing the Carousel Lens at high resolution.<\/p>\n William Sheu, an astrophysics graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles, and lead author of a new study about the discovery in the Astrophysical Journal<\/i><\/a>, says analysis of the Hubble images could reveal even more background galaxies that have been magnified by the gravity of the same foreground galaxy cluster.<\/p>\n Gravitational lensing follows Einstein\u2019s 1916 general theory of relativity, which predicted that gravity would bend light; the first such lens was found in 1979. Boston University astronomer Tereasa Brainerd, who was not involved in the discovery, says the lenses have become powerful tools for studying many of the open questions of the cosmos.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an especially remarkable object,\u201d Brainerd says. \u201cIt\u2019s the result of outstanding good luck that the lens and the seven background galaxies are almost perfectly lined up along our line of sight.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Stars](\"https:\/\/static.scientificamerican.com\/dam\/m\/69d4a17606378c9\/original\/sa1224Adva05.jpg?m=1730398953.049&w=600\")
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