Spectacular images of space phenomenon 'Einstein ring' captured by Chile's ALMA telescope
Spectacular images of space phenomenon 'Einstein ring' captured by Chile's ALMA telescope
09:30, 8 April 2015
By Jeff Parsons
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The ALMA/Hubble composite image of gravitationally lensed galaxy SDP.81. - also known as an Einstein ring
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The ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) telescope in Chile has picked up amazing images of a space phenomenon called an Einstein ring.
What looks like a ring of fire hanging in the cosmos is in fact an effect caused by Einstein's general theory of relativity.
It occurs when two galaxies align to create a process known as "gravitational lensing" where the mass of a closer galaxy distorts the light from the further one.
In this case, the light is coming from a galaxy known as SDP.81, which is about 12 billion light years away from Earth. It is known as a starburst galaxy because it features an above-average rate of star births and therefore gives off a lot of light.
More:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/science/spectacular-images-space-phenomenon-einstein-5476968
