66 ASTRONOMY • FEBRUARY 2022
BREAKTHROUGH
FORNAX FLAUNTS ITS GIANT EINSTEIN RING
You’d think a constellation named Fornax the Furnace might have a fiery disposition; the large galaxy cluster seen here
certainly fits the role. Its gravity has forged four separate images of a remote galaxy into a circular shape Hubble researchers
christened the “Molten Ring.” In fact, this is the largest Einstein ring known to astronomers. Albert Einstein predicted such
structures could form when a massive body (the relatively nearby cluster) gravitationally lenses a more distant object (the
galaxy). The scientists modeled the lens and found that it magnifies the galaxy, which lies 9.4 billion light-years from Earth,
by a factor of 20. In effect, the cluster gives Hubble the observing power of a 48-meter telescope. ESA/HUBBLE & NASA/S. JHA