Gravitational Lensing
Searching for Alien Worlds and Gravitational Lenses from the Arctic
The quest for optimal sites to carry out astronomical observations has taken scientists to the frigid Arctic. Eric Steinbring, who led a team…
A Cosmic Collision: Our Best View Yet of Two Distant Galaxies Merging
An international team of astronomers has obtained the best view yet of two galaxies colliding when the universe was only…
Hubble Spots Farthest Lensing Galaxy Yet
Sometimes there’s a chance alignment — faraway in the universe, where objects are separated by unimaginable distances measured in billions of…
Mapping Dark Matter 4.5 Billion Light-years Away
The Milky Way measures 100 to 120 thousand light-years across, a distance that defies imagination. But clusters of galaxies, which…
Gallery: Incredible Mirages In Space Show Dark Matter, Supernovas And Galaxies
How can an exploding star appear far brighter than expected? This question vexed astronomers since the discovery of PS1-10afx, supernova that was…
New Hubble View Shows Objects a Billion Times Fainter Than Your Eyes Can See
While this image isn’t as deep as the Hubble Deep Field, this 14-hour exposure by the Hubble Space Telescope shows…
Here’s A Nine-Billion-Year Old Gravitational Lens In Space
Here's a picture of what deflected light looks like from 9.4 billion years away. This is the most faraway "gravitational…
Novel Strategy May Help Target Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life
Discovering life beyond Earth might just be the holy grail of science. And even though we have yet to find…
Astronomers Spy Early Galaxies Caught In A Cosmic Spiderweb
Once upon a time, when the Universe was just about three billion years old, galaxies started to form. Now astronomers…
Where Is Dark Matter Most Dense? Subaru Telescope Gets Some Hints
Put another checkmark beside the "cold dark matter" theory. New observations by Japan's Subaru Telescope are helping astronomers get a…