gravitational lens – Astronomy Now

Hubble uncovers the farthest star ever seen

5 April 2018 Astronomy Now

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope were able to pinpoint a faraway star more than halfway across the Universe and set a new distance record.

Hubble pushed beyond limits to spot clumps of new stars in distant galaxy

10 July 2017 Astronomy Now

When it comes to the distant Universe, even the keen vision of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope can only go so far. Teasing out finer details requires clever thinking and a little help from a cosmic alignment with a gravitational lens.

Hubble captures massive dead disc galaxy

25 June 2017 Astronomy Now

By combining the power of a “natural lens” in space with the capability of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers made a surprising discovery—the first example of a compact yet massive, fast-spinning, disk-shaped galaxy that stopped making stars only a few billion years after the big bang.

AutoLens steps up for Euclid satellite’s 100,000 gravitational lens challenge

3 July 2016 Astronomy Now

Due for launch in 2020, ESA’s Euclid satellite will set astronomers a huge challenge: to analyse 100,000 strong gravitational lenses. The gravitational deflection of light from distant astronomical sources by interposing massive galaxies can create multiple images of the source that are not just visually stunning, but are also valuable tools for probing our universe.

Citizen scientists discover gravitational lenses via Space Warps project

26 September 2015 Astronomy Now

Around 37,000 citizen scientists combed through 430,000 images to help an international team of researchers to discover 29 new gravitational lens candidates through Space Warps — an online classification system which guides citizen scientists to become lens hunters, giving the public a chance to make their own scientific discoveries.