Posted on 03/05/2015 2:29:23 PM PST by BenLurkin
Because of the lensing effect of a massive galaxy located between this supernova and the telescope imaging it, the same explosion showed up four times around the galaxy. This formation is called an Einstein Cross. Einstein first predicted the phenomenon of gravitational lensing (a result of his theory of relativity) about a century ago.
Astronomers have seen Einstein Crosses made by galaxies and black holes before, but this is the first time they've seen a supernova jump into the shot.
In this case, the supernova -- which is 9 billion light years away -- would be too faint to be visible from Earth with just one galaxy magnifying it. As luck would have it, the explosions ended up being lensed twice: A massive cluster of galaxies bent the light of the supernova, probably producing three of the images, and one of those was caught again and bent by a final galaxy. In total, the light of the explosion is magnified by 20 times.
"It really threw me for a loop when I spotted the four images surrounding the galaxy - it was a complete surprise," study author Patrick Kelly of the University of California said in a statement. Kelly was looking to find the small, distant supernovas that can be magnified by gravitational lenses, but this new Einstein Cross provides opportunities of its own.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Makes me wonder, if you have a big enough telescope and sit in the right place and look in the right direction and wait long enough, you might see your past.
Good news: Someone named a star after you.
Bad news: It just went supernova.
If you have a big enough telescope and sit in the right place and look in the right direction and wait long enough, you might see your BACKSIDE.......................
So the theory was the cause of the phenomenon?
Might need another beer for that...
Saw Brit Floyd at Red Rocks near Denver on the PBS local this last weekend.
They sounded just like the real deal!...............................
Super Nova SS.
They really need a like button on this platform.
Bump
By physics, a gravity lens should never form four distinct perfect images on the ordinal points of a compass around the gravity source, it should form a distorted Einstein Ring. There is something else at work here than the simplistic gravity lensing artifact being claimed. What is the focusing modality? Is gravity a quad-polar phenomenon? Or does is it mono-polar as all of our observations seem to show?
It takes millions of years for the light of a distant star to reach Earth, even traveling at lightspeed. When I look at the night sky, I often wonder how many of those stars up there still actually exist. Some of them may have gone nova and expired millions of years ago, and their light is just now reaching our eyes. Something to think about.
You'll not only see your past,
You might see what you passed.
:-) good questions...I guess. Would love to know how and why but since I’m past the halfway point of my life, I’ll wait till I talk to my guardian angel. He’ll show me.
'Sounds like some prestigious award you pin on an Astrophysicist ....
You still have to nuke 5 cities to qualify as an ace.
Everything that you can see as a star is closer that 1000 light years...maybe less.
The Milky Way, which you can’t see as individual stars, 30,000 to 50,000 lys.
The furthest you can easily see is M31, the great Andromeda Galaxy, is 2 million lys, M33 (the Pinwheel) is just a little further, but, you have to have a dark sky and very good eyes to see it.
That’s as far back as we can see naked eye. Beyond that, you would need a good pair of binoculars, a telescope and then a telescope with a camera, to see.
The only KNOWN star that we can see here in North America that is close to going, is Betelgeuse, and it still may be 10,000 years or more from going (best guess out there right now).
In the tropics and Southern Hemisphere, you can see Eta Carena(sp?), which is VERY unstable, and could go any time. VERY interesting star there.
Here ya go!..............
http://www.4wdaction.com.au/_phpBB/download/file.php?id=68849
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