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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Galaxy SPT0418-47

Galaxy SPT0418-47
Galaxy SPT0418-47 Astronomers using JWST detected the oldest and most distant complex organic molecules yet in the galaxy SPT0418-47. The galaxy is over twelve billion light-years away but from our perspective on Earth, it is directly behind a foreground galaxy that is only three billion light-years away. The light from the more distant galaxy is bent by the gravity of the galaxy in front of it, creating this beautiful gravitationally lensed image. When the light of an object is bent in such a way that it creates a full circle in an astronomical image, as is the case here, it’s called an Einstein ring. J. Spilker / S. Doyle, NASA, ESA, CSA