How Gravitational Lensing Works (IMAGE)

University of Arizona

How Gravitational Lensing Works

Caption

A galaxy along the line of sight between Earth and another, much more distant galaxy, bends the light from the distant galaxy under its gravitational field, providing astronomers with a magnified and distorted image of the distant galaxy. An analysis of the distortion has revealed that some of the distant star-forming galaxies are as bright as 40 trillion suns, and have been magnified by the gravitational lens by up to 22 times.

Credit

ALMA (ESO/NRAO/NAOJ), L. Calçada (ESO), Y. Hezaveh et al.

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