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Einstein Ring Witnessed In Starburst Galaxy SDP.81

Einstein Ring

The Earth-based Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has captured a high-resolution image of an Einstein ring effect in what CNET indicated in a report to be the highest-resolution image of the galaxy which has ever been produced.

An Einstein ring is an effect in which an object viewed is magnified and distorted by a galaxy between both objects in such a way as to form a circle.

The starburst galaxy seen through the gravitational lensing effect is known as SDP.81. Light measured from the galaxy is estimated to be around 13.82 billion years old, which is a distance usually too far to see.

The recently captured Einstein ring comes as a result of when two objects are perfectly aligned, creating a gravitational lensing warp leading to the formation of what appears to be a perfect circle in the night sky.

ALMA Deputy Program Scientist Catherine Vlahakis was quoted by Space.com as having said in a statement that “the astounding level of detail in these new ALMA images” will allow astronomers to “reassemble the information contained in the distorted image we see as a ring and produce a reconstruction of the true image of the distant galaxy.”

Gravitational lensing is used in astronomy to study the very distant, very early universe, because it gives even our best telescopes an impressive boost in power […] With the astounding level of detail in these new ALMA images, astronomers will now be able to reassemble the information contained in the distorted image we see as a ring and produce a reconstruction of the true image of the distant galaxy.

Last month, we reported here on Immortal News that the Hubble Space Telescope captured images which confirmed another one of Albert Einstein’s theories known as the Einstein cross. In witnessing the event, astronomers effectively watched the same supernova explode four separate times as a result of gravitational lensing.

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