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investigator may have solved the closed book of why a distant galaxy palisade by an spookily perfect " Einstein anchor ring " is denser than it should be : The hefty galaxy , which was discovered by theJames Webb Space Telescope(JWST ) , is being contract by a monumental halo of dark subject .
Einstein rings , which were first predicted byAlbert Einstein’stheory of relativity , are luminous halos create by a phenomenon called gravitative lensing , which come when light from a distant object is warp around a " foreground objective " locate straight off between the distant object and the observer . The light look as if it is being bent bygravity . But in realness , the light is travel in a consecutive line throughspace - timethat has been warped by the foreground object ’s goodish mass .
The Einstein ring, JWST-ER1, was discovered by researchers in September 2023.
In September 2023,astronomers discovered an Einstein ring , key out JWST - ER1 , in data collected by JWST . The luminous complex body part has two parts : JWST - ER1r , which is the actual aglow doughnut made of lighter from the remote galaxy ; and JWST - ER1 g , which is the foreground object that lenses the distant galaxy ’s light .
JWST - ER1r is around 21 billion light - years from Earth , hold it the most aloof gravitationally lensed object ever discovered ; after adjusting for the universe ’s elaboration charge per unit , investigator calculate that the coltsfoot was contain about 10.3 billion years ago , or around 3.4 billion years after theBig Bang .
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A JWST deep field view of space with the Einstein ring in the middle.
At the time of this discovery , researchers noticed that the lensing object , JWST - ER1 g , was unco impenetrable . The size of it and shape of the band palisade this extragalactic nebula hint that it had a plenty of around 650 billion sun , which is very high-pitched for a beetleweed of its size . A large amount of this people is likelydark matter — a orphic form of thing that does not interact with faint butmakes up around 85 % of all matter in the creation . But even when this mysterious essence is accounted for , the Galax urceolata still seems too massive for its size of it .
" extra deal is require to explicate the lensing final result , " the researcherswrote in a paperat the time . However , they provided no explanation for what this " extra mass " could be .
But in a new study , issue April 11 inThe Astrophysical Journal Letters , a new radical of researchers has proposed an account for JWST - ER1 g ’s strange density : A gloriole of dark matter surrounding the wandflower is being compressed into an ever - compressed blank as unconstipated matter collapse into it , resulting in a higher concentration of the orphic subject matter .
" Our numerical studies show that this mechanism can explain the high dark matter density of JWST - ER1 g , " study lead authorDemao Kong , a research worker in the physical science and astronomy section at the University of California , Riverside ( UCR ) , said in astatement .
This is not the first true Einstein ring spot with JWST . In September 2022 , a Reddit user tap into the scope ’s information toreveal a perfectly circular annulus of lightroughly 12 billion light - years from Earth . JWST has also utilized gravitative lensing tosnap the most distant champion ever detectedandsome of the universe ’s oldest extragalactic nebula .
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The investigator trust the telescope can help identify more Einstein ring to essay their theory further .
" JWST offer an unprecedented chance for us to take note ancient galaxy form when the existence was young , " study co - authorHai - Bo Yu , a prof in UCR ’s physics and astronomy section , said in the affirmation . " We carry to see more surprises from JWST and learn more about dark topic presently . "
