Einstein Rings and Gravitational Lensing

Vocabulary flashcards covering the concepts of Einstein rings, gravitational lensing, and general relativity based on the lecture transcript.

Einstein ring

A feature of gravitational lensing where a background galaxy is stretched out into a full ring around a foreground lens.

Molten ring

A case where one of the largest galaxies forms a near complete Einstein ring, magnified by a very large cluster of galaxies.

Einstein's theory of general relativity

The theory that predicted Einstein rings and establishes that matter tells space time how to curve and space time tells matter how to move.

Gravitational lensing

A phenomenon where light is bent and distorted by a foreground lens, such as a galaxy cluster, creating magnified and stretched images of distant galaxies.

Foreground lens

An object, like a galaxy cluster, that bends and distorts light passing through curved space time to create an optical illusion of a background object.

Hubble Space Telescope

An instrument that has taken the clearest images of Einstein rings and verified parts of Einstein's theories of general relativity.