Remarkably, this background galaxy had never been observed before and remains unnamed. “An Einstein ring is an example of strong gravitational lensing,” says lead author Conor O’Riordan of ...

In order to form an Einstein ring, multiple factors have to come together: A massive galaxy in the foreground needs to be perfectly aligned with the background galaxy from the perspective of the ...

As explained above, the distribution of light from a background source is intrinsically tied to the mass of the gravitational lens, in this case, NGC 6505. That means that this Einstein ring can ...

Its enormous gravity warps space-time and so the light of a background galaxy 4.42 billion light-years away is warped into a ring. “An Einstein ring is an example of strong gravitational lensing ...

Related: 'Einstein's equations need to be refined': Tweaks to general relativity could finally explain what lies at the heart of a black hole The researchers explored whether this effect could be ...

Lenses are useful because they can allow us to learn about both given background galaxies, as well as about how the universe is expanding between us and them. Einstein rings may also allow us to ...