Astronomers from the European Space Agency (ESA) have captured an unprecedented look at a rare cosmic phenomenon using data from the Euclid telescope. The discovery was made by happenstance, as the telescope’s initial test images revealed an Einstein ring around a well-known galaxy named NGC 6505.
NGC 6505 is located about 590 million light-years away and has been observed by astronomers since 1884. However, it had never displayed an Einstein ring before, which is a result of the distortion of light from a distant galaxy. The ring itself is made of distorted light from a galaxy 4.42 billion light-years away.
Researchers have made an in-depth study of the Euclid images showcasing details of the Einstein ring. Understanding more about this phenomenon could help scientists to probe some of the enduring mysteries of the universe, such as dark energy.
The discovery is significant because it demonstrates the powerful capabilities of the EUclid telescope, which can find new objects even in places thought to be well-known. This finding is encouraging for the future of the Euclid mission and its potential to revolutionize the field of astronomy.
Einstein rings are examples of strong gravitational lensing, a phenomenon that acts like a magnifying glass in the universe. They reveal celestial objects and light from distant galaxies that would otherwise remain unseen. The ring’s size depends on the total amount of mass near the center of the galaxy, which can be used to study dark matter and dark energy.
The Euclid telescope is on a six-year mission to observe billions of galaxies across more than a third of the sky. The telescope will likely increase the known number of Einstein rings by orders of magnitude, bringing new challenges for astronomers.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/11/science/einstein-ring-euclid-telescope/index.html