# @europeanspaceagency on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DIpNRWDsfes
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/35582210-europeanspaceagency-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/7d1a8e8bdd.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-04-19T21:50:00.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** J.L.Lopez (@xandler80) — https://gondola.cc/xandler80

## Caption

Not one galaxy… but two — and one of them’s wearing a cosmic halo. 😇

This mesmerising image from esawebb features something truly rare: an Einstein ring — a glowing circle of light caused by a cosmic optical illusion.

What looks like a single, warped galaxy is actually two galaxies at vastly different distances. The bright elliptical galaxy at the centre is much closer to us, while the spiral galaxy forming the ring lies far beyond. But thanks to the massive gravity of the foreground galaxy, the light from the distant spiral is bent, wrapping around it and creating this near-perfect circle.

This bending of light is called gravitational lensing, and it works because mass bends spacetime itself — a prediction made by Einstein’s general theory of relativity. When everything aligns just right, we see this stunning ring effect.

Despite being distorted, we can still make out gas clouds and star clusters in the spiral — details that would be impossible to see without Webb’s incredible infrared vision.

This observation is part of the SLICE survey, where scientists are using gravitational lenses like this one to explore galaxy evolution over 8 billion years. And just to make it even cooler — this image also includes data from hubbleesa

Science and beauty, all in one cosmic snapshot.

📸 europeanspaceagency / esawebb, NASA, canadianspaceagency , G. Mahler; creativecommons BY 4.0
Acknowledgement: M. A. McDonald
📹 ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, G. Mahler, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb)

## Stats

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- **Likes:** 18,578
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- **Comments:** 62

## Credits

These are the roles credited on Gondola. Credits may be incomplete.
A brand, account owner, or featured person is not necessarily the creator.

| Name | Username | Profile | Role |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ESA - European Space Agency | @europeanspaceagency | https://gondola.cc/europeanspaceagency | Government Organization |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Producer |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Editor |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Social Media Manager |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Publisher |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Copywriter |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Community Manager |

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