The European Space Agency (ESA) has released a breathtaking image of an Einstein ring, a rare phenomenon where light forms a circle around a galaxy due to gravitational lensing. Captured by the €1.4 billion Euclid mission, the ring is 590 million light-years away from Earth and was formed by the gravitational effects of a foreground galaxy.
Launched in July 2023, Euclid is currently orbiting Lagrange Point 2, a balance point 1.5 million kilometers beyond Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The telescope, camera, and spectrometer on board make it one of the sharpest instruments in space, capturing images four times sharper than those from ground-based telescopes.
Einstein’s theory of general relativity predicts that light bends around massive objects, focusing it like a lens. This effect is more pronounced for larger objects, allowing scientists to observe distant galaxies that would otherwise be hidden. The alignment required for this phenomenon creates an elegant ring shape, as seen in the image.
The mass of galaxy NGC 6505 is bending and magnifying the light from a more distant galaxy, approximately 4.42 billion light-years away. Studying Einstein rings can reveal insights into the expansion of the universe and the nature of dark matter.
The Euclid mission released its first science results in May 2024, following initial observations in November 2023. Early hints of the ring were detected in September 2023 during testing, with subsequent measurements revealing it in exquisite detail.
Source: https://physicsworld.com/a/european-space-agencys-euclid-mission-spots-spectacular-einstein-ring