NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which is daily demonstrating why it is the most powerful telescope in the world, recorded a "Einstein ring" in exquisite detail.
One of the oldest galaxies in the universe is SPT-S J041839-4751.8, or JO418 for short. It is situated around 12 billion light-years from Earth. In the new photograph, it is the origin of the ring of light.
Einstein Ring
When light from a galaxy, star, or other light-emitting cosmic entity passes close to a huge object even before reaches the planet Earth, or in this instance, James Webb telescope, an Einstein ring is formed.
If the source, lens, and observer element are all perfectly aligned, gravitational lensing allows the light to be deflected in this situation, and the light then appears as a ring.
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According to space.com, JO418 is oriented exactly behind another galaxy, the bright blue light at the centre of the ring, whose gravitational pull is so strong that it warps space-time around it.
On August 23, "Spaceguy44," a Reddit member and graduate student of astronomy, uploaded a picture of the JOS18 Einstein ring to the r/Astronomy subreddit. The unidentified scientist created the image using data that was made available to the public by the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on James Webb Space Telescope from NASA.
Cover Image: Spaceguy44
