I wanted to share this astropic I took last night as it shows the first confirmed gravitational lens - a consequence predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity in which a foreground massive object bends spacetime so that objects in the distance can become multiple images in space from our point of view.
The light from this double image of a quasar (the center of a galaxy that has an active supermassive black hole and is incredibly bright as a result) traveled 8.7 billion light years to be collected by a 20-inch telescope and fall upon the CCD detector.
This is the most distant object I have ever photographed and it has me in awe of our Universe AND our ability to comprehend it.
Happy New Year to you all…….tomorrow I will post my "Top SPace Story of 2014".
Awed Sky Guy in VA
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