A rare phenomenon called an Einstein ring has been captured by the Euclid space telescope, providing a glimpse into the extreme warping of space caused by a galaxy’s gravity. The image shows a nearby galaxy, NGC 6505, surrounded by a perfect circle of light, revealing a more distant galaxy behind it.
“This is a beautiful and extraordinary find,” said Prof Stephen Serjeant, an astronomer at the Open University. “An Einstein ring as perfect as this is extremely rare. It allows us to see a background galaxy through the warped space and time of a very nearby foreground galaxy.”
The discovery is significant because Einstein rings reveal objects that would otherwise be obscured from view, providing insight into the mass of the intermediate galaxy, including hidden dark matter. In this case, astronomers estimate that the foreground galaxy contains roughly 11% dark matter.
The Euclid telescope, which can detect galaxies up to 10 billion light years away, is part of a €1 billion mission aimed at uncovering the secrets of dark matter and dark energy, which dominate the universe’s mass content. The telescope will create the largest cosmic 3D map ever made, allowing astronomers to infer the large-scale distribution of dark matter.
The latest image shows the Euclid’s unmatched ability for razor-sharp observations, revealing new structures in the nearby universe. The NGC 6505 galaxy is about 590 million light-years from Earth, while the background galaxy is 4.42 billion light years away. Dr Valeria Pettorino, ESA Euclid project scientist, noted that the discovery demonstrates the telescope’s power in finding new things even in well-known galaxies.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/feb/10/euclid-telescope-captures-einstein-ring-revealing-warping-of-space