The ring of light surrounding the centre of the galaxy NGC 6505, captured by ESA’s Euclid telescope, is a stunning example of an Einstein ring. NGC 6505 is acting as a gravitational lens, bending light from a galaxy far behind it. The almost perfect alignment of NGC 6505 and the background galaxy has bent and magnified the light from the background galaxy into a spectacular ring. This rare phenomenon was first theorised to exist by Einstein in his general theory of relativity.
This wide field shows the extended stellar halo of NGC 6505 and showcases the Einstein ring, surrounded by colourful foreground stars and background galaxies. (Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre, T. Li)
A team of European Space Agency (ESA) scientists detected an Einstein Ring, in which light from one galaxy is sucked into the gravity of another, then encircles it. The team reported the finding in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
The phenomenon is named after Albert Einstein, because his general theory of relativity predicts that light will bend around objects in space, focusing the light like a massive lens. The larger the object, the bigger the gravitational lensing effect appears. If the two galaxies are aligned just right, the light from the farther galaxy forms a ring around the nearer one.
Accidental Discovery
