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Ring of stars at 7 o-clock from the Galaxie
Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 3:39 am
by Dennis Ross
Is it possibly a gravity lens effect?
Thank you for the daily Astronomy information and beautiful pictures.
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 4:26 pm
by William Roeder
Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 8:26 pm
by cknowlto
Has anyone posted a satisfactory explaination for this? It appears to be a gravity lens, but I would have thought that such a nifty effect would have been noted in the text.
It _could_ be an asterism, but hey, what do I know.
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Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:58 pm
by Pete
IANAA, but my explanation: coincidence. I can find even more elaborate patterns in the holes found in the ceiling material of school buildings.
Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 11:17 pm
by fastartceetoo
I'm sure the ring of stars is a coincidence. It would be simple (for astrophysicists) to determine if it is lensing: the spectra of all the stars in the asterism would be identical. I'm sure if any astrophysicist ever thought that lensing was a possibility, a check would have been done long ago, and the caption would have said so.
Also, examples of lensing that I have seen tend to show circumferential smearing of the individual images; these images look sharp.
Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 11:49 pm
by astroton
Is not having a central gravitational object, a necessity for gravitational lensing to take place? Looks more like a coincidence, as there are many stars in the field.
Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 6:51 am
by harry
see link
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030127.html
making of holes, by jets from stars.