Jacques van Oene
November 17th 05, 11:43 PM
FOR RELEASE: 1:00 PM (EST) NOVEMBER 17, 2005
Dolores Beasley/Erica Hupp
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-1753/1237)
Donna Weaver
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore
(Phone: 410/338-4493)
David Aguilar/Christine Pulliam
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass.
(Phone: 617/495-7462/7463)
Whitney Clavin
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818-354-4673)
PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR05-32
HUBBLE, SLOAN QUADRUPLE NUMBER OF KNOWN OPTICAL EINSTEIN RINGS
Astronomers have combined two powerful astronomical assets, the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, to identify
19 new "gravitationally lensed" galaxies, adding significantly to the
approximately 100 gravitational lenses previously known. Among these 19,
they have found eight new so-called "Einstein rings," which are perhaps
the most elegant manifestation of the lensing phenomenon. Gravitational
lensing occurs when the gravitational field from a massive object warps
space and deflects light from a distant object behind it. Einstein rings
are produced when two galaxies are almost perfectly aligned, one behind
the other.
The thin blue bull's-eye patterns in these eight Hubble Space Telescope
images appear like neon signs floating over reddish-white blobs. The
blobs are giant elliptical galaxies roughly 2 to 4 billion light-years
away. The bull's-eye patterns are Einstein rings, which are created as
the light from galaxies twice as far away is distorted into circular
shapes by the gravity of the giant elliptical galaxies.
Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Bolton (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) and the SLACS
Team
For the full story, visit:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2005/32
http://www.slacs.org
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0511453
For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/home
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation
between NASA and the European Space Agency. The Space Telescope Science
Institute in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. The Institute
is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in
Astronomy, Inc., Washington. The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. is a joint collaboration between the
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College
Observatory.
--
--------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info
Dolores Beasley/Erica Hupp
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-1753/1237)
Donna Weaver
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore
(Phone: 410/338-4493)
David Aguilar/Christine Pulliam
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass.
(Phone: 617/495-7462/7463)
Whitney Clavin
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818-354-4673)
PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR05-32
HUBBLE, SLOAN QUADRUPLE NUMBER OF KNOWN OPTICAL EINSTEIN RINGS
Astronomers have combined two powerful astronomical assets, the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, to identify
19 new "gravitationally lensed" galaxies, adding significantly to the
approximately 100 gravitational lenses previously known. Among these 19,
they have found eight new so-called "Einstein rings," which are perhaps
the most elegant manifestation of the lensing phenomenon. Gravitational
lensing occurs when the gravitational field from a massive object warps
space and deflects light from a distant object behind it. Einstein rings
are produced when two galaxies are almost perfectly aligned, one behind
the other.
The thin blue bull's-eye patterns in these eight Hubble Space Telescope
images appear like neon signs floating over reddish-white blobs. The
blobs are giant elliptical galaxies roughly 2 to 4 billion light-years
away. The bull's-eye patterns are Einstein rings, which are created as
the light from galaxies twice as far away is distorted into circular
shapes by the gravity of the giant elliptical galaxies.
Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Bolton (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) and the SLACS
Team
For the full story, visit:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2005/32
http://www.slacs.org
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0511453
For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/home
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation
between NASA and the European Space Agency. The Space Telescope Science
Institute in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. The Institute
is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in
Astronomy, Inc., Washington. The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. is a joint collaboration between the
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College
Observatory.
--
--------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info