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Euclid reveals an Einstein ring around a nearby galaxy (www.nasaspaceflight.com)

submitted 5 days ago by llamacoffee@lemmy.world to c/astronomy@mander.xyz

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[–] N0body@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 5 days ago (1 children)

An Einstein ring is an example of strong gravitational lensing,” explained study lead Conor O’Riordan of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany. “All strong lenses are special, because they’re so rare, and they’re incredibly useful scientifically. This one is particularly special because it’s so close to Earth and the alignment makes it very beautiful.”

I would never pretend I can even remotely wrap my head around this, but anything that helps us understand how gravity works seems like a scientific gold mine.

[–] Live_your_lives@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

You know how telescopes often use glass lenses to bend light into your eye? A gravitational lens is just a naturally occurring telescope, except that the gravity of a large object is the one bending the light towards us. From what I understand, an Einstein lens is just a gravitational lens where the elements for the lens sit in a particularly good setup.