Webb Space Telescope captures spectacular ‘Jewelled ring’ gravitationally lensed quasarThe flagship deep space observatory has turned its sensitive gaze to one of the best lensed quasars.
The quasar designated as RX J1131-1231.
The quasar, designated as RX J1131-1231 is at a distance of six billion lightyears from the Earth.
Supermassive black holes are suspected to lurk in the cores of most large galaxies, such as the Milky Way.
If the black hole has primarily grown by feeding on the gas and dust in its environment, then the supermassive black hole would be rotating slowly, with an unstable accretion disc.
Webb Space Telescope captures spectacular ‘Jewelled ring’ gravitationally lensed quasar
The flagship deep space observatory has turned its sensitive gaze to one of the best lensed quasars.
The quasar designated as RX J1131-1231. (Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Nierenberg).
New Delhi: The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a bright black hole halfway across the visible universe that has been replicated four times by a strong gravitational lensing of a foreground galaxy. The quasar, designated as RX J1131-1231 is at a distance of six billion lightyears from the Earth. Careful examinations of the distant light from supermassive black holes can provide important clues about their growth and feeding habits.
Supermassive black holes are suspected to lurk in the cores of most large galaxies, such as the Milky Way. If the black hole has primarily grown by feeding on the gas and dust in its environment, then the supermassive black hole would be rotating slowly, with an unstable accretion disc. However, if a black hole has grown primarily through a series of mergers with other black holes, then it should be rotating rapidly, with a stable accretion disc feeding it material.
The observations by Webb has revealed that RX J1131-1231 is spinning at more than half the speed of light, indicating that the black hole has grown through a series of mergers with other black holes. Such observations can also help scientists probe the distribution of dark matter in the universe. The dark matter content of the foreground galaxy can be determined by calculating the total gravitational influence on the background object, or the extent to which the light has been deflected, and accounting for the gravitational influence of all the visible stars.
Einstein and Gravitational Lensing
Einstein’s theories famously predicted gravitational lensing, but Einstein himself never imagined that astronomical instruments would ever be sufficiently powerful to actually capture gravitational lenses. Observations of a Solar Eclipse in 1919 made Einstein famous overnight, where his theories could accurately predict the extent to which the Sun would bend the light from distant stars.
