Observing A Black Hole With A Natural Magnifying Glass [720p]

The Einstein Cross and the galaxy that causes this 'cosmic mirage', as seen with the FORS instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope. This cross-shaped configuration consists of four images of a single very distant source. The multiple images are a result of gravitational lensing by a foreground galaxy, an effect that was predicted by Albert Einstein as a consequence of his theory of general relativity. The light source in the Einstein Cross is a quasar approximately ten billion light-years away, whereas the foreground lensing galaxy is ten times closer. The light from the quasar is bent in its path and magnified by the gravitational field of the lensing galaxy.

This animation shows the principle of macro- and microlensing. In "macrolensing", a galaxy plays the role of a cosmic magnifying glass or a natural telescope, an effect that was predicted by Albert Einstein as a consequence of his theory of general relativity. The light from a distant quasar is bent in its path and magnified by the gravitational field of the lensing galaxy. This proves very useful in astronomy as it allows us to observe distant objects that would otherwise be too faint to explore using currently available telescopes. In addition to macrolensing by the galaxy, stars in the lensing galaxy act as secondary lenses to produce an additional magnification. This secondary magnification is based on the same principle as macrolensing, but on a smaller scale, and since stars are much smaller than galaxies, is known as "microlensing". As the stars are moving in the lensing galaxy, the microlensing magnification also changes with time. From Earth, the brightness of the quasar images (four in the case of the Einstein Cross) flickers around a mean value, due to microlensing.

Credit: ESO

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• black hole
• Einstein Cross
• quasar
• galaxy
• macrolensing
• microlensing
• general relativity

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Having thought about the 4-point pattern a bit more, it's apparently a genuine quadrupole lens effect. Basically, the galactic plane has an accretion ring and is close to most of the matter in the galaxy. Above and below the plane are apparently located two antimatter bubbles, and these it seems should be considered to have an effect that is opposite to normal gravitational lensing. A spiral bar can be considered to be in a range that is, or was, antimatter (or antigravitationally) dominated.

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Just saw an article in an online magazine called "symmetry" that suggests looking through a wine glass to duplicate the cross pattern. Unfortunately I am out of wine glasses.

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Nice, but the galaxy depiction does not look like Huchra's lens, which seems to me to have a necessary galactic bar in it.

It almost looks to me as if the lens for the Einstein cross has four cycles of radial wave running along its perimeter, a sort of quadrupole effect to it. It's still a puzzle.

I suppose others could see it and think it's a holographic pattern based on a tetrahedral space-filling matrix. A nifty idea, needs no galactic bar.

[SuperXbox360helper]

wow