Unprecedented ‘Einstein Cross’ Reveals Fifth Ghost Image and a Dark Matter Surprise
When gravity—an invisible yet ubiquitous force—bends and distorts light from distant galaxies, Earthbound observers get a rare glimpse of elusive cosmic phenomena. And the weirder the glitch, the more insightful the finding, as a team of astronomers recently discovered. These glitches are formally referred to as Einstein Crosses. As light from a distant galaxy travels toward our observatories, the gravitational force of galaxies closer to us bends that light, creating an image of four bright do