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    Double Einstein Ring in SDSS J0946+1006

    Date: 10 Jan 2008
    Satellite: Hubble Space Telescope
    Depicts: SDSSJ0946+1006
    Copyright: NASA, ESA, and R. Gavazzi and T. Treu (University of California, Santa Barbara)

    This is an image of gravitational lens system SDSSJ0946+1006 as photographed by Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The gravitational field of an elliptical galaxy warps the light of two galaxies exactly behind it. The massive foreground galaxy is almost perfectly aligned in the sky with two background galaxies at different distances. The foreground galaxy is 3 thousand million light-years away, the inner ring and outer ring are comprised of multiple images of two galaxies at a distance of 6 thousand million and approximately 11 thousand million light-years. The odds of seeing such a special alignment are estimated to be 1 in 10 000.


    Last Update: 10 Jan 2008

    • Shortcut URL
    • http://sci.esa.int/jump.cfm?oid=42196
    • Latest selection
    • Wide-field image of the Ring Nebula (ground-based image)
    • The geometry and structure of the Ring Nebula
    • The region around the Ring Nebula (Hubble/LBT composite)
    • Image Hi-Res Versions
    • Hi-Res [tif]
      1,019.43 kb.
    • Hi-Res [jpg]
      452.63 kb.
    • See also
    • Hubble finds double Einstein ring [heic0803]

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