Image-processed radio map of the \double quasar\" 0957+561 at 6cm wavelength, made by the Very Large Array, New Mexico. The quasar is a single object,
Image-processed radio map of the \double quasar\" 0957+561 at 6cm wavelength, made by the Very Large Array, New Mexico. The quasar is a single object, located some 10 million light years away, but we see two images of it (blue circles one above the other at the centre of the picture) because the radiation from it is bent when it passes close to an intervening galaxy (small yellow & red patch just above the bottom image of the quasar) which acts as a \"gravitational lens\". The 1979 discovery of 0957+561, the first double quasar found, confirms Einstein's prediction of the gravitational bending of light in his 1916 General Theory of Relativity."
Size: 3256px × 3032px
Photo credit: © DR DAVID ROBERTS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 0957+561, astronomy, cosmology, double, false-coloured, focusing, galaxy, gravitational, imagery, lens, proof, quasar, radio, relativity, science, vla
