Why this matters (even if you’re not an astronomer)
- This stunning image shows a distant galaxy’s light bent into a glowing ring – a real-life demonstration of Einstein’s theory that gravity can warp space itself.
- Einstein predicted this space-warping effect a century ago. Now we can see it in action and use it to study galaxies in detail we’d never see otherwise.
- Look closely at the images and you’ll spot spiral arms, star clusters and glowing gas: details made visible thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope’s incredible sharpness.
- The ring is actually light from a faraway spiral galaxy, stretched and magnified by the gravity of a closer, massive elliptical galaxy.
- Scientists are using these cosmic rings to investigate how galaxy clusters, or huge groups of galaxies, have evolved over billions of years.
- This breakthrough comes from a global team using both the Webb and Hubble telescopes, giving us our clearest look yet at the universe’s most dramatic light shows.