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Hubble Finds Double Einstein Ring

Posted by Soulskill on from the billions-and-billions dept.

Einstein Duble brings us news that astronomers using the Hubble Telescope have discovered an extremely rare double Einstein Ring. Occasionally, galaxies or other bright objects are located in such a way that they are behind another galaxy when viewed from Earth. When light from the further galaxy passes a sufficiently massive closer galaxy, the path of the light is bent inward from all sides, creating a "ring" effect. In this case, not one, but two galaxies are directly behind the foreground galaxy, so the gravitational lens produces two distinct rings. Quoting Presscue: "The distribution of dark matter in the foreground galaxies that is warping space to create the gravitational lens can be precisely mapped. In addition, the geometry of the two Einstein rings allowed the team to measure the mass of the middle galaxy precisely to be a value of 1 billion solar masses. The team reports that this is the first measurement of the mass of a dwarf galaxy at cosmological distance (redshift of z=0.6)."

4 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Re:WoW by mrbluze · · Score: -1, Troll

    I sat here for ten minutes and couldn't work out a way to make a butt joke out of your comment. But I guess if einstein's ring had a red shift, it could be construed that his ring had some how split into two, which, painful as it must be, would also result in some red shift.

    --
    Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
  2. Interesting, maybe by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 0, Troll
    THis is interesting and all, but how is it useful?

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  3. Re:Hmmm, double rings? by davidsyes · · Score: -1, Troll

    100% overrated -2?

    Well, double-dumb-ass on YOU, moderator. (You are allowing logic to override your ability to display recognition of a sense of humour...)

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    Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
  4. Einstein's double ring earns Hubble team award by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    News Flash: Einstein's double ring earns Hubble team Mark of the Brown Ring.[News], astronomy's most prestigious award.