![]() Since then, astronomers have used gravitational lensing from galaxy clusters to discover far-off galaxies, and identified exoplanets from the tiny amount of lensing they produce. ![]() The light-bending effect was first demonstrated for the Sun during a solar eclipse in 1919. Objects like planets and even light follow the straightest possible path within that structure, but the stronger the gravity, the more curved the paths become. ‘Iceball’ Planet Discovered through MicrolensingĪccording to general relativity, gravity can be described as a distortion in the structure of spacetime. ![]() Several unique exoplanets have been discovered this way, including some orbiting very distant stars in the Milky Way. Using microlensing to detect exoplanets orbiting stars as they pass between us and more distant stars. Future observatories like LSST will provide a census of millions of galaxies through gravitational lensing alone. Using weak gravitational lensing to map the distribution of galaxies on the largest scales in the universe. As these elusive galaxies are the ancestors of the Milky Way and other modern galaxies, astronomers study them to understand how they formed, grew, and evolved over billions of years.ĭiscovering Distant Radio Galaxies via Gravitational Lensing These galaxies are too far to be seen directly, but closer-by galaxies and clusters magnify their light. Searching for some of the earliest galaxies in the universe using strong lensing. Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian astronomers are engaged in observations involving all three types of gravitational lensing: ![]()
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