Hubble telescope spots Einstein Ring

The European Space Agency's Hubble Picture of the Week showcases a trio of galaxies in an intricate celestial ballet. The celestial landscape, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, not only captures the luminosity of relatively close galaxies but also unveils a distant counterpart, all harmoniously aligned in an awe-inspiring cosmic symphony.

The central bright dot in this Hubble image represents the closer galaxy known by the rather lengthy but informative name of SDSS J020941.27+001558.4. Positioned just above it, seemingly intersecting a graceful crescent of light, is the second closer galaxy identified as SDSS J020941.23+001600.7. Adding to the cosmic ensemble is the curving crescent of light itself, emanating from the very distant galaxy known as HerS J020941.1+001557.

What’s in our ESA/Hubble Picture of the Week? 🤔 A distant galaxy 19.5 billion light-years away? A luminous red galaxy just 2.7 billion light-years away? Or a third galaxy close to the second? 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/vLE3CXuU0k

— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) January 1, 2024

This alignment is a stunning example of an Einstein ring - a cosmic phenomenon which occurs when the light from distant objects, like galaxies, passes by an extremely large mass.

"When the lensed object and the lensing object line up just so, the result is the distinctive Einstein ring shape, which appears as a full or partial circle of light around the lensing object, depending on how precise the alignment is. This partial Einstein ring is of particular interest as it was identified thanks to a citizen science project - SPACE WARPS - meaning that members of the public enabled the discovery of this object," ESA explained in a post.

The Hubble Space Telescope, a project of international collaboration between NASA and ESA, is a space-based observatory orbiting Earth since 1990. The veteran telescope has provided breathtaking images and valuable data about distant galaxies, nebulae, and other celestial objects, contributing significantly to our understanding of the cosmos.