Beautifully “jeweled” warped rings of light generated by massive black holes have been revealed in the latest James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) image. The glowing loop is surprisinglyEinstein Ring” depicts four points of light, but not all of them are real.
Star-studded halo New Image It is made up of light from quasars (supermassive stars). Black Hole Located at the center of a young galaxy, it is engulfing huge amounts of material and shooting out powerful, energetic jets. Scientists have long known about the quasar, named RX J1131-1231, and it is located in the constellation Crater, about six billion light-years from Earth. European Space Agency (European Space Agency).
The circular shape of a quasar is A phenomenon known as gravitational lensingLight from distant objects such as galaxies, quasars, and supernovae gravity This is the effect of another massive object between the distant object and the observer. As a result, light appears to bend around the central object, even though it’s traveling in a straight line. In this case, the quasar is being lensed by a closer, unnamed galaxy, which appears as a blue dot in the middle of the bright ring.
Gravitational lensing enhances the view of very distant objects such as RX J1131-1231. Otherwise we would hardly see it.This magnification effect creates a bright spot on the object seen through the lens. Shining like a brilliant gem among gemsThis is especially noticeable when distant objects are not perfectly aligned with the observer.
There are four bright spots in the photo, suggesting four separate objects are being lensed, but the orientation and appearance of the gemstones around the ring suggest they are actually mirror images of a single bright spot, replicated through lensing, according to the ESA.
Bright spot overlap This is especially common in distorted quasars. Because these objects are some of the brightest in the universe.
When light from a distant gravitationally lensed object forms a perfect circle, it is known as an Einstein ring. Albert Einstein The lensing effect was first predicted by General theory of relativity 1915.
But in this case, the light isn’t perfectly lensed, and the ring shape is mainly due to the overlapping of the quasar’s bright points. Previous images of distorted quasars have also shown that the light does not form a perfect circle.
Einstein rings and other gravitationally lensed objects can help reveal hidden information about distant objects. For example, in 2014, researchers used light from RX J1131-1231 to measure the rotation speed of its supermassive black hole. Space.com previously reported:.
From the size and shape of the lensed object, scientists can also calculate the mass of the lensed galaxy, which appears as a blue dot in this image. By comparing this value with the galaxy’s radiation, researchers can Dark matter There is a mysterious substance in these galaxies that doesn’t react with light, but does gravitationally interact with regular matter. As a result, these distorted light shows are just a part of our universe. The best tool to unlock the secrets of dark matter.
