What do the experts think?

• by ParticleMan

  In the lower right theres a reddish quarter-circle that I think might be caused by lensing, but the background galaxy is blue (if it is a galaxy, it might be a little too bright). Thoughts?

  Posted May 9, 2013 3:01 AM

• by todash

  It looks like a lens to me too - I would certainly have marked it as one if it came up. Would be interesting to see what a professional thinks though. Nice find!

  Posted May 9, 2013 12:52 PM

• by Scott_Hensiek

  Definitely has the right arc to it. I would have marked this as well.

  Posted May 9, 2013 5:57 PM

• by drphilmarshall scientist, admin in response to ParticleMan's comment.

  Just want to add one thing beyond my comments under the image: if we looked at this in black and white, we'd see a circular object with a little arc curved around it - a good candidate for a gravitational lens! The circular object would be the lens, in the foreground, and the arc would be the image of the background source. It's really the colours that give this system away as a non-lens: we expect lens galaxies to be yellow/orange/red. HTH! 😃

  Posted May 11, 2013 10:33 AM

• by ParticleMan

  Thanks Dr Phil!

  Posted May 15, 2013 3:54 AM