The distorted blue arcs visible around the center of the picture are
the lensed background galaxy.
Not exact matches
Fritz Zwicky used it for the first time to declare the observed phenomena consistent with dark matter observations as the rotational speeds of
galaxies and orbital velocities of
galaxies in clusters, gravitational
lensing of
background objects by
galaxy clusters such as the Bullet cluster, and the temperature distribution of hot gas in
galaxies and clusters of
galaxies.
Dark Matter is thought to exist because of its gravitational effects on stars and
galaxies, gravitational
lensing (the bending of light rays) around these, and through its imprint on the Cosmic Microwave
Background (the afterglow of the Big Bang).
However, through the phenomenon known as «gravitational
lensing,» a massive, foreground cluster of
galaxies acts as a natural «zoom lens» in space by magnifying and stretching images of far more distant
background galaxies.
It is also possible to use the way the gravity of clusters of
galaxies distort more distant
background galaxies, weak gravitational
lensing, as another tracer.
Image of the gravitational lens RX J1131 - 1231
galaxy with the lens
galaxy at the center and four
lensed background quasars.
This strongly suggested that two distinct
background galaxies were being
lensed by the foreground
galaxy.
Combining the available images and removing the haze of the
lensing galaxy's collection of stars, the result was very clear: an almost perfect Einstein ring, indicating a gravitational lens with very precise alignment of the lens and the
background light source [1].
By cross-correlating large - scale surveys of
galaxies and observations of how
galaxies distort
background light in a relativistic process known as weak
lensing, Ferreira says, the true nature of mass and the forces acting on it can be tested.
The cluster is so massive that its powerful gravity bends the light from
galaxies far behind it, making
background objects appear larger and brighter in a phenomenon called gravitational
lensing.
[4] Gravitational
lensing magnifies the light from fainter,
background objects, allowing Hubble to spy
galaxies it would otherwise not be able to detect.
The cluster's powerful gravity warps the images of
background galaxies into blue streaks and arcs that give the illusion of being inside the cluster, an effect known as gravitational
lensing.
NASA said the
background galaxy has been magnified, distorted and multiply imaged by the gravity of the
galaxy cluster in a process known as gravitational
lensing.
Below is a picture from the Hubble Space Telescope showing the
lensing of a
background galaxy by a cluster of
galaxies in front.
These high resolution images also showed that the
lensing galaxy is an edge - on disc
galaxy — similar to our
galaxy, the Milky Way — which obscures parts of the
background light due to the large dust clouds it contains.
By studying the observed deflections and distortions of
background galaxies, astronomers build up a model of each
galaxy cluster's mass distribution (primarily dark matter) and the resulting
lensing magnifications.
Gravitational
lensing not only distorts the image of a
background galaxy, it can also amplify its light.
«The polarization of the waves coming from the
background quasar, combined with the fact that the waves producing the two
lensed images traveled through different parts of the intervening
galaxy, allowed us to learn some important facts about the
galaxy's magnetic field,» said Sui Ann Mao, Minerva Research Group Leader for the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany.