The specific location of the galaxy and physics is all that was needed by the Universe to create a strange smiley face in deep space.
Captured by the wide-angle camera of the Hubble Space Telescope, this “space smiley” was formed by the gravitational environment surrounding the galaxy cluster SDSS J1038 + 4849. The space-time is so twisted around the mass of galaxies that the light behind the cluster refracted as if we were looking through a huge cosmic lens.
Gravitational lensing has become a powerful Hubble tool in recent years and the mission is currently using these natural lenses to peer beyond its original capabilities. Analyzing these mysterious arcs of light, we can observe the previously never seen details of galaxies. This rare example of a gravitational lens is known as the "Einstein ring" - named after Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, which predicted the existence of gravitational lenses in deep space.
