[00:00.00]Scientists say Europe's Euclid space telescope has discovered a bright ring of light circling a nearby galaxy.
[00:12.72]The observed light is known as an Einstein ring.
[00:18.66]Researchers have estimated the ring encircles a galaxy 590 million light years away from Earth.
[00:30.77]A light year is the distance light travels in a year - about 9.5 trillion kilometers.
[00:39.92]Astronomers have long known about the galaxy where the ring was discovered.
[00:47.24]So, they were surprised that the bright ring had not been identified before.
[00:55.71]It was discovered in a well-studied galaxy called NGC 6505.
[01:04.60]It is in the constellation - a group of stars - named Draco.
[01:11.51]Einstein rings are rare. They form when light from a more distant galaxy bends around a closer galaxy.
[01:23.66]The nearer galaxy appears to have a circle of light, or a halo, around it.
[01:31.93]The Einstein ring gets its name from physicist Albert Einstein.
[01:39.52]Einstein predicted that light would bend around extremely massive objects in space.
[01:48.71]This is called "gravitational lensing."
[01:53.57]The American space agency NASA explains that as light passes through a gravitational lens, "it may take different paths, producing multiple images of the same object."
[02:10.87]In this way, gravity itself acts as a lens, magnifying and distorting space and time in a way that is similar to an optical lens like those in eyeglasses or contact lenses.
[02:29.29]Gravitational lenses permit telescopes like Euclid to observe more distant and less-bright objects.
[02:40.95]In the latest project, researchers from Germany's Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics used data from Euclid to create a computer model to discover the Einstein ring.
[02:58.88]The Euclid space telescope is operated by the European Space Agency (ESA).
[03:07.63]In 2023, it launched on a six-year mission that ESA officials have said aims to study the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy across the universe.
[03:24.86]Astronomers at the Max Planck Institute are leading the research.
[03:30.55]In a statement, the organization said the first sign that the Einstein ring existed came during testing right after Euclid was deployed.
[03:44.34]A team member, Bruno Altieri, was looking over early data collected by Euclid.
[03:52.40]"Even from that first observation, I could see it," Altieri said in a statement.
[04:00.92]"But after Euclid made more observations of the area, we could see a perfect Einstein ring.
[04:09.72]For me, with a lifelong interest in gravitational lensing, that was amazing."
[04:17.83]The scientists said the more distant galaxy involved in the method is about 4.4 billion light years away from Earth.
[04:30.30]They noted that the more distant galaxy had never been observed before and does not have a name.
[04:39.33]Altieri's team recently reported the findings in a study in the publication Astronomy and Astrophysics.
[04:49.76]Conor O'Riordan is another team member from the Max Planck Institute and was the lead writer of the study.
[04:59.66]He said, "All strong lenses are special, because they're so rare, and they're incredibly useful scientifically.
[05:10.65]This one is particularly special, because it's so close to Earth and the alignment makes it very beautiful."
[05:21.49]O'Riordan added that the researchers used the latest gravitational lensing methods developed at the institute.
[05:32.35]This permitted them to model the light of the ring.
[05:37.53]"We even had to look at some of the raw data to better understand how the detector works."
[05:45.74]O'Riordan said the team's modeling operations were just the first step in studying the newly discovered Einstein ring.
[05:58.03]He said the group plans to use the ring to also study "dark matter substructures" within the lensing galaxy.
[06:08.87]O'Riordan predicted, "Euclid is going to revolutionize the field, with all this data we've never had before."
[06:20.94]I'm Bryan Lynn.
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Words in This Story
galaxy - n. a very large group of stars held together in the universe
bend - v. to make something become curved
distort - v. to change the shape, sound or appearance of something
lens - n. a curved piece of glass in cameras, glasses and scientific equipment used or looking at things
magnify - v. to make an object look larger than it is by looking through special equipment
perfect -adj. complete; having no mistakes; completely correct
align - v. to put things in an exact line or make them parallel
raw - n. unprepared or imperfectly prepared for use
detect - v. to identify something, especially something that is difficult to see, hear, smell, etc.
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