Image: The most distant gravitational lens yet discovered

Description: This picture from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the most distant gravitational lens yet discovered. The glow at the centre of this picture is the central regions of a normal galaxy. By chance it is precisely aligned with a much more remote, young star-forming galaxy. The light from the more distant object is bent around the nearer object by its strong gravitational pull to form a ring of multiple images. The chance of finding such an exact alignment is very small, suggesting that there may be more star-forming galaxies in the early Universe than expected.
Title: The most distant gravitational lens yet discovered
Credit: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1319a/
Author: NASA/ESA/A. van der Wel
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
License: CC BY 4.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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