Hubble Finds Double Einstein Ring 168
Einstein Duble brings us news that astronomers using the Hubble Telescope have discovered an extremely rare double Einstein Ring. Occasionally, galaxies or other bright objects are located in such a way that they are behind another galaxy when viewed from Earth. When light from the further galaxy passes a sufficiently massive closer galaxy, the path of the light is bent inward from all sides, creating a "ring" effect. In this case, not one, but two galaxies are directly behind the foreground galaxy, so the gravitational lens produces two distinct rings. Quoting Presscue:
"The distribution of dark matter in the foreground galaxies that is warping space to create the gravitational lens can be precisely mapped. In addition, the geometry of the two Einstein rings allowed the team to measure the mass of the middle galaxy precisely to be a value of 1 billion solar masses. The team reports that this is the first measurement of the mass of a dwarf galaxy at cosmological distance (redshift of z=0.6)."
Who said Hubble was a waste of money? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yay Hubble (Score:3, Insightful)
They're called 'airplanes' and we even have a place to park them called 'airports'
Re:And to them, we are the ring (Score:5, Insightful)
* The one that's the "foreground galaxy" to us would be the inner ring.
* The one that's the "first ring" to us would be the foreground galaxy for them and
* The Milky Way would appear as the outer ring!
Actually, that's not the case. I'll give you a hint. The reason is because of something the guy these rings are named after, figured out. These galaxies aren't aligned. They just look that way from our perspective. From the other direction, it's extremely unlikely these 4 galaxies ever aligned, as odd as that sounds.
Extemely Rare? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Who said Hubble was a waste of money? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:And to them, we are the ring (Score:2, Insightful)
of the light will be exactly the same since the path is dictated by the perturbation of spacetime.
You forgot about time (Score:5, Insightful)
This does not mean that the reverse is true. It does not mean that there is a line that the Milky Way was on 11 billion years ago, and galaxy 3 was on 8 billion years ago, and galaxy 2 was on 5 billion years ago, and galaxy 3 is on now. Why not? Because galaxies move.
Still, even if not technically correct, it was a really awesome thought by the OP...
Re:Who said Hubble was a waste of money? (Score:4, Insightful)
C'mon, homefry. Walk the walk if you're gonna talk the talk.
Re:Who said Hubble was a waste of money? (Score:5, Insightful)
C'mon, homefry. Walk the walk if you're gonna talk the talk.
Some Libertarians might be against funding things like Hubble. I personally am more concerned with personal freedom, and a balanced budget. Private industry isn't going to do certain things, Hubble is a prime example. The last thing this country needs to do is cut scientific research.
Re:Here come's the PR Blitz (Score:5, Insightful)
It's sad that spending money to unravel the secrets of the universe is sneered at (see parent) while large numbers of people and entire news networks (not necessarily including parent) champion spending trillions of dollars to keep poking the middle east hornet's nest (And apparently think that if we keep poking, the hornets will get tired and give up).
Re:I agree, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
Layne
Re:Who said Hubble was a waste of money? (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, I hate this sort of thing. Any proposal has good and bad sides. When you're making a decision you count them and weigh them against eachother. Then you make a decision. Obviously, he values 'really free market' really highly, but that doesn't mean he's not allowed to acknowledge the cases when there are more cons to his approach than usual.
Acknowledging arguments and still making a decision is a sign of intelligence. Trying to force somebody else to make false choices, or attributing false opinions to them is stupid.. and way too bloody common.
odds of this (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:You forgot about time (Score:4, Insightful)
We are at "hypothetical centre of the big bang", as is everything else.
Re:Which part of the knowledge is useful? (Score:4, Insightful)
The universe is understood by using phenomenae like this to test our theories and provide a sort of astronomical 'yard stick' by which we can measure other objects. Objects that without this yard stick would be less well understood. One discovery is built upon another until, one by one, they form the sum of our understanding.
So why not go out and measure the mass of that little rock in your backyard? Wouldn't it be amazing to discover that it had a density of 19.3 g/mL?
Re:Which part of the knowledge is useful? (Score:5, Insightful)
There is no useless knowledge. There is knowledge we don't know how to use yet but no useless knowledge. Time will show, determining mass of a galaxy might turn out to be an essential calculation 300 years from now on, given civilization continues to evolve until then.