Rings of Relativity

Esahubble_potw2050a_1024

esahubble_potw2050a December 14th, 2020

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. JhaAcknowledgement: L. Shatz

The narrow galaxy elegantly curving around its spherical companion in this image is a fantastic example of a truly strange and very rare phenomenon. This image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, depicts GAL-CLUS-022058s, located in the southern hemisphere constellation of Fornax (The Furnace). GAL-CLUS-022058s is the largest and one of the most complete Einstein rings ever discovered in our Universe. The object has been nicknamed by the Principal Investigator and his team who are studying this Einstein ring as the "Molten Ring", which alludes to its appearance and host constellation. First theorised to exist by Einstein in his general theory of relativity, this object’s unusual shape can be explained by a process called gravitational lensing, which causes light shining from far away to be bent and pulled by the gravity of an object between its source and the observer. In this case, the light from the background galaxy has been distorted into the curve we see by the gravity of the galaxy cluster sitting in front of it. The near exact alignment of the background galaxy with the central elliptical galaxy of the cluster, seen in the middle of this image, has warped and magnified the image of the background galaxy around itself into an almost perfect ring. The gravity from other galaxies in the cluster is soon to cause additional distortions. Objects like these are the ideal laboratory in which to research galaxies too faint and distant to otherwise see.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://esahubble.org/images/potw2050a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Baltimore, MD, United States

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
GAL-CLUS-022058s PKS 0218-387
Subject - Distant Universe
Galaxy > Type > Gravitationally Lensed
Esahubble_potw2050a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 2h 20m 57.6s
DEC = -38° 33’ 4.3”
Orientation
North is 67.0° CW
Field of View
2.3 x 1.4 arcminutes
Constellation
Fornax

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFC3) Optical (i) 775.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFC3) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFC3) Optical (i) 775.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFC3) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Luminosity Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (H) 1.6 µm
Spectrum_base
Red
Green
Green
Blue
Luminosity
Esahubble_potw2050a_1280
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ID
potw2050a
Subject Category
D.5.1.8  
Subject Name
GAL-CLUS-022058s, PKS 0218-387
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. JhaAcknowledgement: L. Shatz
Release Date
2020-12-14T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://esahubble.org/images/potw2050a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFC3, WFC3, WFC3, WFC3, WFC3
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Green, Blue, Luminosity
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Infrared
Bandpass
i, V, i, V, H
Central Wavelength
775, 555, 775, 555, 1600
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None, None, None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
35.2399763335, -38.5511867292
Reference Dimension
3547.0, 2065.0
Reference Pixel
1773.5, 1032.5
Scale
-1.10084807218e-05, 1.10084807218e-05
Rotation
-66.99999999999973
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
https://esahubble.org
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
ESA Office, Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr
City
Baltimore
State/Province
MD
Postal Code
21218
Country
United States
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
potw2050a
Metadata Date
2020-10-26T13:54:16+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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