Space telescope spots rare ‘Einstein ring’ of light around galaxy in our cosmic neighborhood

Europe’s Euclid space telescope has detected a rare halo of bright light around a nearby galaxy. The halo, known as an Einstein ring, encircles a galaxy 590 million light-years away. That’s considered close by cosmic standards. Astronomers have known about this galaxy for more than a century and so were surprised when Euclid uncovered the bright glowing ring. They reported their discovery Monday. An Einstein ring is light from a much more distant galaxy that bends in such a way as to perfectly encircle a closer object. Europe’s Euclid space telescope has detected a rare halo of bright light around a nearby galaxy. The halo, known as an Einstein ring, encircles a galaxy 590 million light-years away. That’s considered close by cosmic standards. Astronomers have known about this galaxy for more than a century and so were surprised when Euclid uncovered the bright glowing ring. They reported their discovery Monday. An Einstein ring is light from a much more distant galaxy that bends in such a way as to perfectly encircle a closer object.  AP Technology and Science