Great Image: Einstein's Ring

The Alma Observatory in Chile recently captured an image that supports Einstein's theory that gravity will bend light, or in this case what is called gravitational lensing.  While this particular set of galaxies were discovered earlier, the Alma Observatory provides the best image yet of this phenomenon. 

Here is the story from the observatory that accompanies the image above: 

Forged by the chance alignment of two distant galaxies, this striking ring-like structure is a rare and peculiar manifestation of gravitational lensing as predicted by Albert Einstein in his theory of general relativity.

Gravitational lensing occurs when a massive galaxy or cluster of galaxies bends the light emitted from a more distant galaxy, forming a highly magnified, though much distorted image. In this particular case, the galaxy known as SDP.81 and an intervening galaxy line up so perfectly that the light from the more distant one forms a nearly complete circle as seen from Earth.

Discovered by the Herschel Space Observatory, SDP.81 (formally known as HATLAS J090311.6+003906) is an active star-forming galaxy nearly 12 billion light-years away, seen at a time when the Universe was only 15 percent of its current age. It is being lensed by a massive foreground galaxy that is a comparatively nearby 4 billion light-years away.

Image Credit:  LMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ); B. Saxton NRAO/AUI/NSF