A distant galaxy has been observed to bend around a giant star, which NASA has described as a “melted ring”, otherwise known as the Einstein ring. The object in question has been described by the space agency as a “very rare phenomenon”. The Hubble Space Telescope managed to snatch the sn object, which has the catchy name of GAL-CLUS-022058s.
According to NASA, the image shows a distant galaxy curved around a cluster galaxy.
It is caused by a phenomenon called gravitational lensing.
If an object in space is large enough like the sun, its gravitational field will be so intense that its mass causes space – space-time – and light to bend.
It acts in the same way as a magnifying glass, for example, which turns light through a lens, which appears closer to the making object.
The first theory of gravitational lensing was made by Albert Einstein in his general theory of relativity.
Because of its fiery appearance, NASA has dubbed it a “molten ring”.
The space agency said: “In this case, the light of the background galaxy has evolved in its curve against which we have seen by the gravity of the seated galaxy cluster.
“The precise alignment of the background galaxy with the central elliptical galaxy of the cluster seen in the center of this image draws and expands the image of the background galaxy in almost the entire ring.
Read more: NASA News: Hubble Stingray catches Nehula’s ‘unprecedented fading’
JWST is so powerful that it can give an insight into the early universe, just 0.3 billion years after the Big Bang when visible light began to form itself.
JWST will also play a major role in hunting the outside world.
This is because the telescope has the ability to scan thousands of planets for alien life by detecting biosignatures in a planet’s atmosphere.
NASA states: “The James Webb Web Space Telescope (sometimes called the JWST or Web) is an orbiting infrared observatory that will expand the discovery of the Hubble Space Telescope with long wavelength coverage and extended sensitivity.
“Long wavelengths enable the web to look very close to the beginning of time and to detect the unsafe formation of the first galaxies, as well as to look inside the dust clouds created by the systems of the stars and planets.”
