ALMA Sees Einstein Ring in Stunning Image of Lensed Galaxy

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ALMA Sees Einstein Ring in Stunning Image of Lensed Galaxy

Post by bystander » Tue Apr 07, 2015 3:12 pm

ALMA Sees Einstein Ring in Stunning Image of Lensed Galaxy
NRAO | ALMA | 2015 Apr 07
[imghover=https://public.nrao.edu/images/non-gall ... s_nrao.jpg]https://public.nrao.edu/images/non-gall ... T_nrao.jpg[/imghover]ALMA image of the gravitationally lensed galaxy SDP.81. The bright orange central region
of the ring (ALMA's highest resolution observation ever) reveals the glowing dust in this
distant galaxy. The surrounding lower-resolution portions of the ring trace the millimeter
wavelength light emitted by carbon monoxide. In the ALMA/Hubble composite image,
the diffuse blue element at the center of the ring is from the intervening lensing galaxy,
as seen with the Hubble Space Telescope. (Credit: ALMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ);
B. Saxton NRAO/AUI/NSF; NASA/ESA Hubble, T. Hunter (NRAO))
[/i]

Astronomers have discovered that a distant galaxy -- seen from Earth with the aid of a gravitational lens -- appears like a cosmic ring, thanks to the highest resolution images ever taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).

Forged by the chance alignment of two distant galaxies, this striking ring-like structure is a rare and peculiar manifestation of gravitational lensing as predicted by Albert Einstein in his theory of general relativity.

Gravitational lensing occurs when a massive galaxy or cluster of galaxies bends the light emitted from a more distant galaxy, forming a highly magnified, though much distorted image. In this particular case, the galaxy known as SDP.81 and an intervening galaxy line up so perfectly that the light from the more distant one forms a nearly complete circle as seen from Earth.

Discovered by the Herschel Space Observatory, SDP.81 is an active star-forming galaxy nearly 12 billion light-years away, seen at a time when the Universe was only 15 percent of its current age. It is being lensed by a massive foreground galaxy that is a comparatively nearby 4 billion light-years away. ...

The new SDP.81 images were taken in October 2014 as part of ALMA’s Long Baseline Campaign, an essential program to test and verify the telescope’s highest resolving power, achieved when the antennas are at their greatest separation: up to 15 kilometers apart.

The highest resolution image of SDP.81 was made by observing the relatively bright light emitted by cosmic dust in the distant galaxy. This striking image reveals well-defined arcs in a pattern that hints at a more complete, nearly contiguous ring structure. Other slightly lower-resolution images, made by observing the faint molecular signatures of carbon monoxide and water, help complete the picture and provide important details about this distant galaxy.

Though this intriguing interplay of gravity and light in SDP.81 has been studied previously by other observatories, including radio observations with the Submillimeter Array and the Plateau de Bure Interferometer, and visible light observations with the Hubble Space Telescope, none has captured the remarkable details of the ring structure revealed by ALMA. ...

ALMA Long Baseline Observations of the Strongly Lensed Submillimeter Galaxy
HATLAS J090311.6+003906 at z=3.042
- ALMA Partnership et al
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ESO: Sharpest View of Star Formation in the Distant Universe

Post by bystander » Tue Jun 09, 2015 1:05 am

Sharpest View Ever of Star Formation in the Distant Universe
European Southern Observatory | ALMA | 2015 Jun 08

ALMA’s observation of Einstein Ring reveals extraordinary detail
[img3="Montage of the SDP.81 Einstein Ring and the lensed galaxy
Credit: ALMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ)/Y. Tamura (The University of Tokyo)/
Mark Swinbank (Durham University)
"]http://cdn.eso.org/images/screen/eso1522a.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]
ALMA’s Long Baseline Campaign has produced a spectacular image of a distant galaxy being gravitationally lensed. The image shows a magnified view of the galaxy’s star-forming regions, the likes of which have never been seen before at this level of detail in a galaxy so remote. The new observations are far sharper than those made using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and reveal star-forming clumps in the galaxy equivalent to giant versions of the Orion Nebula in the Milky Way.

ALMA’s Long Baseline Campaign has produced some amazing observations, and gathered unprecedentedly detailed information about the inhabitants of the near and distant Universe. Observations made at the end of 2014 as part of the campaign targeted a distant galaxy called HATLAS J090311.6+003906, otherwise known as SDP.81. This light from this galaxy is a victim of a cosmic effect known as gravitational lensing. A large galaxy sitting between SDP.81 and ALMA is acting as a lens, warping and magnifying the view of a more distant galaxy and creating a near-perfect example of a phenomenon known as an Einstein Ring.

At least seven groups of scientists have independently analysed the ALMA data on SDP.81. This flurry of research papers has revealed unprecedented information about the galaxy, including details about its structure, contents, motion, and other physical characteristics. ...

Astronomers 'Unscramble' Einstein Ring
National Radio Astronomy Observatory | 2015 Jun 08

High-resolution ALMA observations of SDP.81.
  • I. The innermost mass profile of the lensing elliptical galaxy probed by 30 milli-arcsecond images - Yoichi Tamura et al II. Molecular Clump Properties of a Lensed Submillimeter Galaxy at z=3.042 - Bunyo Hatsukade et al
Revealing the complex nature of the strong gravitationally lensed system H-ATLAS J090311.6+003906 using ALMA - S. Dye et al ALMA maps the Star-Forming Regions in a Dense Gas Disk at z~3 - Mark Swinbank et al The Inner Mass Distribution of the Gravitational Lens SDP.81 from ALMA Observations - Kenneth C. Wong et al ALMA Long Baseline Observations of the Strongly Lensed Submillimeter Galaxy
HATLAS J090311.6+003906 at z=3.042
- ALMA Partnership et al ALMA imaging of SDP.81 -
  • I. A pixelated reconstruction of the far-infrared continuum emission - M. Rybak et al II. A pixelated reconstruction of the CO emission lines - M. Rybak et al
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ALMA Uses 'Natural Telescope' to Image Monstrous Galaxy

Post by bystander » Tue Jun 09, 2015 3:10 pm

ALMA uses ‘Natural Telescope’ to Image Monstrous Galaxy near the Edge of the Universe
University of Tokyo | NAOJ | ALMA | 2015 Jun 09

For centuries cartographers were fond of depicting monsters along the edges of their maps. Now, researchers have depicted a monstrous 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. ...
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ASIAA: Studying the Einstein Ring Phenomenon

Post by bystander » Fri Oct 02, 2015 2:17 am

Astronomers "Weigh" a Galaxy's Black Hole by Studying the Einstein Ring Phenomenon
Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics | 2015 Sep 29

Astronomers at the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA), Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Kenneth Wong, Assistant Research Fellow Dr. Sherry Suyu and Associate Research Fellow Dr. Satoki Matsushita have recently analyzed the highest-ever resolution images of SDP.81, a gravitational lens, taken by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile. From observations of this ring-shaped image known as an Einstein Ring (a result of the gravitational lensing effect), the team calculated that the supermassive black hole located near the center of the lensing galaxy may contain over 300 million times the mass of the sun. Measuring the masses of more distant black holes is the key to understanding the formation and evolution of black holes and their host galaxies. This study marks a new era of research using ALMA and its unparalleled capability for cutting-edge scientific endeavors. ...

The Inner Mass Distribution of the Gravitational Lens SDP.81 from ALMA Observations - Kenneth C. Wong et al
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