Simple facts
What it is: 8 “Einstein Rings”, officially known as the gravity lens
Where is it: Deep Sky
When shared: September 30, 2025
When telescopes look into space, they sometimes see the habit of nature that expands objects in the distance. These eight galaxies have recently been imaged by James Webbspace Telescope (JWST).
Imagine the space as elastic fabric. When a giant object, such as a galaxy, sits on its fabric, the space around it bends. As light from a more distant galaxy passes through this distorted space, its path bends. If the alignment is just right, the light on that background Galaxy is distorted into an arc or ring. This effect can create a shining circle of light called the Einstein ring, named after Albert Einstein, who predicted this strange phenomenon more than 100 years ago. However, partial arcs and rings are more common.
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Gravity lenses help astronomers see more and more clearly than ever before. These lenses expand and amplify light from very distant galaxies that are otherwise invisible. It also allows scientists to measure the mass of galaxies containing mystical dark matter that are not directly seen.
These spectacular new Deepfield Galaxy images come from a project called Cosmos-Web, one of the biggest observation programs implemented at JWST. Scientists have spent 255 hours pointing to telescopes in over 42,000 galaxies, finding more than 400 possible examples of Einstein Ring. The eight here are the most dramatic ones.
Perhaps the standout is the second image along the top. Shows COSJ100024+015334. This is a perfect circle that reveals the galaxy that exists when the universe is only 1 billion years old, just a small portion of our current estimated age (over 13 billion years).
While some of the galaxies have been previously seen on the Hubble Space Telescope, JWST’s sharper infrared vision reveals details that have been completely hidden up until now. Others are brand new discoveries, such as galaxies made red with dust and distance.
The rare alignment that creates Einstein rings allows astronomers to study the components of galaxies, star clusters, and exploding stars. These windows to the distant past reveal how galaxies formed and how dark matter shaped the universe in its early days.
For sublime space images, see Space Photos in this week’s archives.
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