Einstein Ring

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid space telescope has recently discovered a rare ring of light, known as an Einstein ring, around a galaxy nearly 590 million light-years away from Earth.

• The ring was discovered around NGC 6505, first identified in the 19th century.
• About Einstein Ring: A ring of light around dark matter, galaxies, or clusters caused by gravitational lensing.

o Gravitational lensing occurs when a massive celestial body bends and amplifies light from a distant galaxy behind it.

o The gravitational lens in this case was NGC 6505, bending light from a galaxy 4.42 billion light-years away.

o Named after Albert Einstein, who predicted that light bends around massive objects in his general theory of relativity.

o The first Einstein ring was discovered in 1987, and they remain extremely rare (found in less than 1% of galaxies).

o They are not visible to the naked eye and require space telescopes like Euclid to observe.

• Why Do Scientists Study Einstein Rings?

o Dark Matter Research: Helps study dark matter, which makes up 85% of the universe but cannot be directly detected.

o Galaxy Observations: Enables viewing distant galaxies that would otherwise remain invisible.

o Understanding the Universe: Provides insights into the expansion of the universe and changes in space-time between galaxies, as explained by NASA.