NASA's Webb Telescope has captured a rare cosmic event and shared this interesting image, known as the “Einstein ring”. At first glance, what appears to be a single, oddly shaped galaxy is actually made up of two galaxies that are quite far apart. While the closer galaxy is at the center of the image, the more distant galaxy in the background appears to be spread out in a ring around the galaxy in front of it.

The reason for this strange phenomenon is that light from a distant galaxy is bent and lensed by the larger galaxy in front of it. Since mass can bend and warp space-time, light is also affected by this curvature and changes direction. This effect, which is normally difficult to notice on small scales, becomes apparent and observable at astronomical distances.

This special ring shape only occurs when the background galaxy, the foreground galaxy and the observation point are perfectly aligned, making it a rare phenomenon in the universe.

Image description:

In the center is an elliptical galaxy, seen as an oval-shaped glow around a small bright core. Surrounding it is a broad band of light that looks like a spiral galaxy stretched and twisted into a ring with bright blue lines where the spiral arms stretch out in circles. A few distant objects can be seen on a black background around the ring.

 

Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, G. Mahler