Supernova (Photo : www.space.com)
Images were captured by the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed Albert Einstein's "Theory of Relativity," also called "Einstein cross," where a supernova has been observed exploding repeatedly.
Researchers were able to measure the delays between supernova explosions; in fact, one supernova was recorded exploding four times. These data have led them into fully understanding the occurrence of supernovas, the kind of a universal matter it exploded from, and the phenomenon referred to as the gravitational lenses.
"Einstein cross" implies a quasar position behind a lensed object in a manner that splits the traveling light to the observer from the object into four separate, distinct images.
This recent observation of the supernovas originating from a single dying star marks the first "Einstein Cross" to be observed by astronomers. These supernovas, which have occurred behind a gigantic galaxy approximately 5 billion light-years way, were positioned 9.3 billion light-years from the Earth, almost at the limits of where people could only observe the universe.
Dr. Patrick Kelly of the University of California in Berkeley was the person who first snapped the images, the Register reported. Further, he is the lead author of the report that described the exploding supernova published in the Journal Science, on Thursday.
"I was astounded," said Kelly. "I was not expecting anything like that at all," he added.
The "gravitational lens" effect was first seen in 1979. This, from the Earth, could magnify an object to 100 times, while distorting images behind a lens.
The phenomenon was predicted by Albert Einstein in the year 1964, more than half a century and updates have now been published in the library of Cornwell University.
