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Gravitational Lensing of Distant Galaxies

Gravitational Lensing of Distant Galaxies

This diagram illustrates how gravitational lensing by foreground galaxies will influence the appearance of far more distant background galaxies. This means that as many as 20 percent of the most distant galaxies currently detected will appear brighter because their light is being amplified by the effects of foreground intense gravitational fields.

The plane at far left contains background high-redshift galaxies. The middle plane contains foreground galaxies; their gravity amplifies the brightness of the background galaxies. The right plane shows how the field would look from Earth with the effects of gravitational lensing added. Distant galaxies that might otherwise be invisible appear due to lensing effects.

  • Release Date
    January 12, 2011
  • Science Release
    In Deep Galaxy Surveys, Astronomers Get a Boost – from Gravity
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Illustration: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI); Science: NASA, ESA, S. Wyithe (University of Melbourne), H. Yan (Ohio State University), R. Windhorst (Arizona State University), and S. Mao (Jodrell Bank Center for Astrophysics, and National Astronomical Observatories of China)

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Gravitationally Lensed High-Redshift Galaxy Candidates

Gravitationally Lensed High-Redshift Galaxy Candidates

This is a color composite image of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Green circles mark the locations of candidate galaxies at a redshift of z~8, while higher-redshift candidates are circled in red. The estimated distances to these candidates have not been confirmed...

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Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
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Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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