I know we as a species we’ll most likely never be able to leave here in a successful way, but I hate that it’s all for nothing just like every other extinct animal. I hope we have enough time as humans to create something that can carry the torch forward, just like evolution did for us when it pushed us out of the sea.
JayRogPlayFrogger on
There looks like a cut or hole near the centre of the third image. Is this common or it a small dent in the mirror?
mishmashx on
So are those small individual dots in these images galaxies?
heyPootPoot on
It’s crazy that not only the light gets warped, but *time* gets warped, too!
Like, in this other picture, the same galaxy was so warped that we get to see it *literally* 3 different times: 0 days, 320 days later, and 1000 days later! In one picture! I can’t comprehend!
Slight edit: It’s not exactly *time* being warped, but it’s more like the galaxy’s light is taking long 320-day and 1000-day “detours” around the huge shiny thing in the middle (the galaxy cluster)! The 0-day light just happens to be the fastest one to reach us! Thanks for the replies!
My sense of up/down gets challenged looking at this – so many galaxies, so far from each other, each with their own night sky, there are only a few individual stars in the image.
You just have to believe that in at least one of those galaxies there are others, sitting, entering text into redditelsewhere, pondering that far-away galaxy we live in…
It’s difficult for me to figure out the ‘lensing’ – it is curved, but you can’t see either what is causing it, nor the entire lens shape itself – must be kinda like looking at rainbows, there sometimes, sometimes not
warthog0869 on
So….is the true goal for the type of space travel we think about being more like bringing point A and point B together on the fabric of spacetime by bending it to bring the two points together rather than some form of a percentage of FTL speed in a kind of cryo sleep and traveling more linearly? Or some form of generational starships to do the same?
scupking83 on
The universe is just crazy to think about. There is so much life out there but so far away that we can’t or they can’t communicate with us… There are probably billions of civilizations. Also we are so microscopic on the universe scale. What would everything look like if we could zoom out.
[deleted] on
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koebelin on
I just automatically start looking for duplicates in these deep field shots now.
Varsect on
This universe is fucking insane. We will never see it in its absolute true glory, even if multiversal travel becomes a thing. Incredible.
BobaButt4508 on
ELI5, what is causing the warp. Black hole, dark matter, some other phenomena??
[deleted] on
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OpenACann on
I don’t understand the whole “time is an illusion” idea. This is an example of literally seeing time.
Rsb88 on
I hope I’m alive when we discover alien life. There’s gotta be something out there. Good or bad.
darkslide3000 on
lol, it really just looks like a lens aberration.
Which I guess it is, technically. Just not from the camera lens.
Ms74k_ten_c on
What is truly mind-boggling is that a theoretical physicist (Enstien, obviously) predicted lensing when the technology to even detect it was decades away. I can not fathom the intellectual brain power that guy had.
Edit: Thank you for the first ever award 🙂
grammarpopo on
Oh great, now we have to worry about warped spacetime.
KopiteTheScot on
God the sheer scale of the universe is terrifying
[deleted] on
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amaurea on
These are impressive images, but the title is misleading. What we’re seeing here is gravitational lensing, which definitely is a result of the warping of spacetime. But crucially, you don’t need strong warping to get strong lensing! Sure, strong warping is one way to get strong lensing, which is what happens when one looks at a black hole ([simulated view](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/BH_LMC.png)). But one can also get strong lensing by applying a small amount of warping over a very large distance, and that’s what’s happening in OP’s images.
In this image we’re seeing a mix of far-away and super-far-away images. The gravitational field of the far-away galaxies very very slightly deflects the light from the very-far-away galaxies in the background. But over a billion lightyears that tiny change in the direction the light is moving amounts to a large overall displacement, and that’s why we end up with a visible effect. The warping of spacetime between galaxies, like what we see here, is actually much smaller than the warping of spacetime here on earth. It’s just overcoming that by acting over a much larger area.
26 Comments
I know we as a species we’ll most likely never be able to leave here in a successful way, but I hate that it’s all for nothing just like every other extinct animal. I hope we have enough time as humans to create something that can carry the torch forward, just like evolution did for us when it pushed us out of the sea.
There looks like a cut or hole near the centre of the third image. Is this common or it a small dent in the mirror?
So are those small individual dots in these images galaxies?
It’s crazy that not only the light gets warped, but *time* gets warped, too!
Like, in this other picture, the same galaxy was so warped that we get to see it *literally* 3 different times: 0 days, 320 days later, and 1000 days later! In one picture! I can’t comprehend!
https://esawebb.org/images/potm2302b/
Slight edit: It’s not exactly *time* being warped, but it’s more like the galaxy’s light is taking long 320-day and 1000-day “detours” around the huge shiny thing in the middle (the galaxy cluster)! The 0-day light just happens to be the fastest one to reach us! Thanks for the replies!
Edit 2:
I drew pictures of how I understand it… I think:
https://imgur.com/a/0MENMzM
My sense of up/down gets challenged looking at this – so many galaxies, so far from each other, each with their own night sky, there are only a few individual stars in the image.
You just have to believe that in at least one of those galaxies there are others, sitting, entering text into redditelsewhere, pondering that far-away galaxy we live in…
It’s difficult for me to figure out the ‘lensing’ – it is curved, but you can’t see either what is causing it, nor the entire lens shape itself – must be kinda like looking at rainbows, there sometimes, sometimes not
So….is the true goal for the type of space travel we think about being more like bringing point A and point B together on the fabric of spacetime by bending it to bring the two points together rather than some form of a percentage of FTL speed in a kind of cryo sleep and traveling more linearly? Or some form of generational starships to do the same?
The universe is just crazy to think about. There is so much life out there but so far away that we can’t or they can’t communicate with us… There are probably billions of civilizations. Also we are so microscopic on the universe scale. What would everything look like if we could zoom out.
[removed]
I just automatically start looking for duplicates in these deep field shots now.
This universe is fucking insane. We will never see it in its absolute true glory, even if multiversal travel becomes a thing. Incredible.
ELI5, what is causing the warp. Black hole, dark matter, some other phenomena??
[removed]
I don’t understand the whole “time is an illusion” idea. This is an example of literally seeing time.
I hope I’m alive when we discover alien life. There’s gotta be something out there. Good or bad.
lol, it really just looks like a lens aberration.
Which I guess it is, technically. Just not from the camera lens.
What is truly mind-boggling is that a theoretical physicist (Enstien, obviously) predicted lensing when the technology to even detect it was decades away. I can not fathom the intellectual brain power that guy had.
Edit: Thank you for the first ever award 🙂
Oh great, now we have to worry about warped spacetime.
God the sheer scale of the universe is terrifying
[removed]
These are impressive images, but the title is misleading. What we’re seeing here is gravitational lensing, which definitely is a result of the warping of spacetime. But crucially, you don’t need strong warping to get strong lensing! Sure, strong warping is one way to get strong lensing, which is what happens when one looks at a black hole ([simulated view](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/BH_LMC.png)). But one can also get strong lensing by applying a small amount of warping over a very large distance, and that’s what’s happening in OP’s images.
In this image we’re seeing a mix of far-away and super-far-away images. The gravitational field of the far-away galaxies very very slightly deflects the light from the very-far-away galaxies in the background. But over a billion lightyears that tiny change in the direction the light is moving amounts to a large overall displacement, and that’s why we end up with a visible effect. The warping of spacetime between galaxies, like what we see here, is actually much smaller than the warping of spacetime here on earth. It’s just overcoming that by acting over a much larger area.
Here are [many other examples of strong lensing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_lens#Gallery) from Wikipedia.
Are we sure this is not just complex gravitational lensing? Because that’s what gravitational lensing looks like, albeit usually circular.
Looks lile gravitational lensing to me, are these like really fat stars or something ?
Serious Question: What would it be like for a human to be in an area of extreme spacetime warping?
If large amounts of mass can warp things then this explains why my brain is the way it is given my body
Oh Sweet, cosmic horrors beyond my comprehension
Explain this to me please like I am 5 years old.