Einstein Cross

a quasar split into four by gravity · Q2237+030

550 million light-years from Earth

Four images of one quasar, whose light set out about 10 billion years ago, arranged around the core of a galaxy far nearer to us. The galaxy's gravity bends the quasar's light along four paths. Seen from anywhere but here, the cross would fall apart.

• the four images are 1.8 arcseconds apart as seen from Earth
• the quasar's light took about 10 billion years to get here

kind

galaxy