Showing posts with label Magnify. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Magnify. Show all posts
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Massive Black Hole Bends Light to Magnify Distant Galaxy
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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