In the vast expanse of space, there exist cosmic mirrors that distort and magnify our view of the universe, allowing us to uncover its secrets.
Galaxy clusters, with their immense mass, warp the fabric of space, creating a curved gravitational lens that bends and distorts light, while also amplifying and brightening it. This natural phenomenon serves as an invaluable telescope for astronomers, and researchers have recently stumbled upon an extremely potent such lens.
From our vantage point on Earth, it’s a rare alignment of celestial bodies. A foreground cluster of galaxies (the lens) situated approximately 5 billion light-years away, and behind that, an impressive sequence of seven galaxies. This alignment is like finding a needle in a haystack, as described by David Schlegel, an astrophysicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab who coauthored the research.
“This is an astonishingly fortunate ‘galactic alignment’ – a chance arrangement of multiple galaxies across a line-of-sight spanning most of the observable universe,” Schlegel said in a statement. “Discovering one such alignment is like finding a needle in a haystack. Finding all of these is like 8 needles precisely aligned inside that haystack.”
The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal The Astrophysical Journal, reveals that this unusual, warped cluster makes previously impossible deep space observations a reality. “By virtue of its ability to drastically amplify background sources, strong lensing enables significantly deeper and further observations than otherwise possible,” the researchers wrote. For more on unlocking the secrets of space, visit https://carsnewstoday.com/science/unlock-12-billion-years-of-space-secrets-scientists-discover-rare-cosmic-lens/.
The cluster is labeled below. Here’s what you’re seeing:
The gravitational lens: The four most massive galaxies in this weighty foreground cluster, 5 billion light-years away, are labeled “La, Lb, Lc, and Ld.” For reference, a single light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles.
Magnified galaxies: These distant galaxies, located between 7.6 to 12 billion light-years away (that’s quite far; the oldest light in the galaxy is some 13.8 billion years old), are labeled 1 through 7. But they appear numerous times, as they’re warped around the lens. Each repeated appearance is given a letter.
– The Colossal Einstein Cross:
"A remarkable highlight is the identification of an Einstein Cross – the largest on record to date – manifest in the multiple appearances of galaxy number 4 (designated as 4a, 4b, 4c, and 4d)," the lab reported. "This rare configuration of multiple images encircling the lens's center serves as a hallmark of the symmetrical distribution of the lens's mass (predominantly composed of invisible dark matter) and plays a crucial role in the lens-modeling process."
This phenomenon has been fittingly dubbed the “Carousel Lens,” due to the circular patterns formed by the background galaxies around the center, evoking a merry-go-round. The discovery was far from straightforward. Observations from a multitude of telescopes and observatories, including the NASA Hubble Space Telescope and The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), were instrumental in pinpointing the lens and verifying its magnifying capabilities.
“The fortuitous alignment of seven galaxies and a foreground galaxy cluster presents a unique opportunity for gaining unprecedented insight into the Universe,” the researchers observed. “This alignment can provide valuable information on high-redshift galaxies, cluster properties, or cosmology, and it is clear that there is still much to be learned from this system.”
