Friday, February 12, 2010

APOD 3.4

The Einstein Cross Gravitational Lens
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100207.html

This is a picture of the Einstein Cross, which is a case of gravitation lensing. The galaxy in the picture appears to have four nuclei rather than one. However, this is highly unlikely; a more probable explanation for what is seen is that the actual nucleus is not visible, and the light that appears to be coming from four sources is actually originating from a single quasar behind the galaxy. The galaxy's gravitational field breaks this light into the four images. Quasars likely form when matter in a large galaxy fall toward a central super-massive black hole. They are the brightest objects in the universe.

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