Credit: F. Courbin/S. G. Djorgovski/G. Meylan/Caltech/EPFL/WMKOThis labeled image of the first-ever foreground quasar (blue) lensing a background galaxy (red) was taken with the Keck II telescope and its NIRC-2 instrument using laser guide star adaptive optics.
Discovering more of these lenses will allow astronomers to determine the masses of quasars’ host galaxies.
A giant black hole spouting energy from inside a galaxy is acting like a cosmic magnifying glass, giving astronomers a clear view of an even more distant galaxy behind it.
It is the first time a quasar – the central region of a galaxy dominated by an energy-spewing black hole – has been discovered acting as a gravitational lens. The cosmic lens phenomenon was first predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.
The discovery gives astronomers a glimpse at two galaxies at once, allowing researchers to photograph the distant object while weighing and measuring the intervening galaxy and the bright powerhouse at its core.
Credit: F. Courbin/S. G. Djorgovski/G. Meylan/Caltech/EPFL/WMKO
This graphic shows how quasars can serve as great cosmic lenses forming a gravitational lens that magnifies more distant galaxies and objects.
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