Einstein is right! Again!

He must be getting sick of always being right, surely! Einstein predicted that light would bend while passing large masses due to something called 'gravitational lensing'. Low and behold, we've observed it happen numerous times in history. Now we've found perhaps the most extraordinary example of such a thing.

If you have a large light source lined up in a line-of-sight perspective behind something massive, like a galaxy, the light should bend around it. This then forms a ring of light around the foreground object. Add another galaxy into the line-up, and you'll get more bending, hence another ring.

It's highly unlikely you'd ever get two galaxies lined up perfectly in front of a third bright galaxy...but that's pretty much what astronomers have found.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080110102319.htm

Amazing.

Mike

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