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This new NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month features a rare cosmic phenomenon called an Einstein ring. What at first appears to be a single, strangely shaped galaxy is actually two galaxies that are separated by a large distance. The closer foreground galaxy sits at the center of the image, while the more distant background galaxy appears to be wrapped around the closer galaxy, forming a ring.

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This new NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month features a rare cosmic phenomenon called an Einstein ring. What at first appears to be a single, strangely shaped galaxy is actually two galaxies that are separated by a large distance. The closer foreground galaxy sits at the center of the image, while the more distant background galaxy appears to be wrapped around the closer galaxy, forming a ring.
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Corey S Powell (coreyspowell@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 28-Mar-2025 05:04:39 JST Corey S Powell

I look at a lot of space images, but this one made my eyes bug out like a cartoon character.
What you see here isn't a spiral galaxy, exactly. It's a spiral galaxy whose image was bent into a circle by the gravity of an elliptical galaxy visible at the center.
Warped space, right before your eyes!
https://esawebb.org/images/potm2503a/ #space #science #art #nasa #esa

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