Researchers Use Gravitational Lens Ogling Huge Galaxy at the Edge of the Universe
Researchers have depicted a huge galaxy near the edge of the charted Universe with unprecedented detail using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) with the assistance of a 'natural telescope' known as a gravitational lens.
The team modeled the lensing effects and corrected for them to reveal the distribution of huge stellar cradles in the monstrous galaxy. As a bonus, the same model indicates, for the first time, the existence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the foreground galaxy.
During its high resolution test observation campaign in October 2014, ALMA imaged the monstrous galaxy SDP.81, located 11.7 billion light-years away from the Earth in the constellation Hydra. A gravitational lens created by a massive foreground galaxy 3.4 billion light-years from us acts as a natural telescope, magnifying the image of SDP.81.
The image becomes brighter but smears into a ring shape, as can be seen in Figure 1. This ultra-sharp image of the ring astounded astronomers around the globe, but it has been difficult to understand the details of its complicated structure.
http://www.i4u.com/2015/06/92093/researchers-use-gravitational-lens-ogling-huge-galaxy-edge-universe
= new reply since forum marked as read
