What is gravitational lensing? | Space


Gravitational lensing is an effect on light from a background source that arises as a result of the curvature of spacetime, the three dimensions of space and time united into a single entity, caused by mass.

The effect is most observable when light from a bright background source, like a star, a quasar, or an entire galaxy, passes a very massive object like another galaxy or a cluster of galaxies, described as a lensing object or just a gravitational lens.



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