{"id":253544,"date":"2025-09-25T12:06:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T12:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/253544\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T12:06:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T12:06:19","slug":"astronomers-spot-impossible-fifth-image-unlocking-dark-matter-secrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/253544\/","title":{"rendered":"Astronomers Spot \u201cImpossible\u201d Fifth Image Unlocking Dark Matter Secrets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Galaxy<\/a>A mysterious fifth image inside a rare Einstein Cross exposed a massive halo of dark matter, giving astronomers a rare chance to study both the distant galaxy and the invisible structures shaping the cosmos. (Artist\u2019s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.com<\/p>\n

Astronomers studying a rare Einstein Cross stumbled upon an impossible \u201cfifth image\u201d that shouldn\u2019t exist \u2014 and it revealed something extraordinary.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Careful analysis showed the strange light pattern could only be explained by the presence of a vast, hidden halo of dark matter bending the galaxy\u2019s glow.<\/p>\n

Discovery of a Cosmic Anomaly<\/p>\n

When Rutgers theoretical astrophysicist Charles Keeton first saw an unusual picture shared by his colleague, he was intrigued.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you ever seen an Einstein Cross with an image in the middle?\u201d his colleague Andrew Baker asked, referring to a rarely seen cosmic configuration.<\/p>\n

Keeton hadn\u2019t. The implications were enormous.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, well, that\u2019s not supposed to happen,\u201d said Keeton, the Vice Provost for Experiential Learning at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. \u201cYou can\u2019t get a fifth image in the center unless something unusual is going on with the mass that\u2019s bending the light.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Einstein Cross Mystery<\/p>\n

An \u201cEinstein Cross\u201d is a rarely seen cosmic configuration in which the light from a distant galaxy is bent by the gravity of galaxies in front of it, creating four images. But the extra image in this Einstein Cross pointed to \u201csomething unusual,\u201d which turned out to be a massive, hidden halo of dark matter. The existence of this invisible structure could only be inferred through careful computer modeling and analysis.<\/p>\n

\"Five<\/a>A rare cosmic configuration: An Einstein Cross with five points of light, instead of the usual four, has been discovered by scientists. Credit: P. Cox et al. \u2013 ALMA (ESO\/NAOJ\/NRAO)
\nDark Matter Halo Revealed<\/p>\n

The discovery, made by an international team that includes Keeton, Baker, and Rutgers graduate student Lana Eid, is now being published in The Astrophysical Journal.<\/p>\n

Dark matter makes up most of the matter in the universe, but it can\u2019t be seen directly. \u201cWe only know it\u2019s there because of how it affects the things we can see, like the way it bends light from distant galaxies,\u201d said Baker, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the School of Arts and Sciences and a co-author of the study. \u201cThis discovery gives us a rare chance to study that invisible structure in detail.\u201d<\/p>\n

First Clues From France<\/p>\n

The first step toward that discovery was taken in France.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were like, \u2018What the heck?\u2019\u201d said Pierre Cox, a French astronomer, Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the study\u2019s lead author, who first spotted the anomaly in data from the Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) of radio telescopes in the French Alps.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looked like a cross, and there was this image in the center,\u201d Cox said. \u201cI knew I had never seen that before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unraveling the Fifth Image<\/p>\n

The team was studying a distant, dusty galaxy called HerS-3. Using NOEMA and the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, they saw that the light from HerS-3 split into five rather than four images. At first, they thought it might be a glitch in the data. But the fifth image wouldn\u2019t go away.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to get rid of it,\u201d Cox said. \u201cWe thought it was a problem with the instrument. But it was real.\u201d<\/p>\n

Computer Models Expose the Invisible<\/p>\n

Computer modeling of the gravitational lens by Keeton and Eid showed that the four visible foreground galaxies causing the gravitational bending couldn\u2019t explain the details of the five-image pattern. Only with the addition of a large, invisible mass, in this case, a dark matter halo, could the model match the observations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried every reasonable configuration using just the visible galaxies, and none of them worked,\u201d said Keeton, also a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and a co-author of the study. \u201cThe only way to make the math and the physics line up was to add a dark matter halo. That\u2019s the power of modeling. It helps reveal what you can\u2019t see.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Natural Cosmic Laboratory<\/p>\n

The unusual configuration doesn\u2019t just look cool: the scientists said it\u2019s scientifically valuable. The lensing effect magnifies the background galaxy, allowing astronomers to study its structure in greater detail than usual. It also offers a rare chance to learn about the dark matter that surrounds the foreground galaxies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis system is like a natural laboratory,\u201d Cox said. \u201cWe can study both the distant galaxy and the invisible matter that\u2019s bending its light.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eid, a Rutgers graduate student pursuing her doctoral degree and a co-author of the study, said her involvement in the research project has been exciting from beginning to end.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thrilled to join this project as a graduate student, especially since it involved a fascinating lensing system that grew more intriguing as our models evolved,\u201d Eid said. \u201cCollaborating across continents and time zones taught me the value of diverse expertise and research styles in fully understanding a new discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Predictions and Future Tests<\/p>\n

The team has even predicted that more features, such as outflowing gas from the galaxy, could be visible in future observations. If those predictions are confirmed, it would be a powerful validation of their models. If not, it would still teach them something new.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a falsifiable prediction,\u201d Keeton said. \u201cIf we look and don\u2019t see it, we\u2019ll have to go back to the drawing board. That\u2019s how science works.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker said the discovery was critically enabled by both international collaboration and U.S. federal support for science. \u201cALMA in Chile and the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico are supported by the National Science Foundation, and the Hubble Space Telescope is supported by NASA; all played vital roles in this work,\u201d he said. \u201cWe hope they will continue to enable such discoveries well into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cHerS-3: An Exceptional Einstein Cross Reveals a Massive Dark Matter Halo\u201d by P. Cox, K. M. Butler, C. R. Keeton, L. Eid, E. Borsato, T. J. L. C. Bakx, R. Neri, B. M. Jones, P. Prajapati, A. J. Baker, S. Berta, A. Cooray, E. M. Corsini, L. Marchetti, A. Omont, A. Beelen, R. Gavazzi, D. Ismail, R. J. Ivison, M. Krips, M. D. Lehnert, H. Messias, D. Riechers, C. Vlahakis, A. Weiss, P. van der Werf and C. Yang, 16 September 2025, The Astrophysical Journal.
DOI: 10.3847\/1538-4357\/adf204<\/a><\/p>\n

Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mysterious fifth image inside a rare Einstein Cross exposed a massive halo of dark matter, giving astronomers…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":253545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[4514,28891,21744,492,133888,159,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-253544","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-astronomy","9":"tag-astrophysics","10":"tag-dark-matter","11":"tag-physics","12":"tag-rutgers-university","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115264853554134967","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}