January 12, 2011
In deep galaxy surveys, astronomers get a boost - from gravity
As many as 20 percent of the most distant galaxies currently detected appear brighter than they actually are, because of an effect called "strong gravitational lensing," according to a new study that involves Haojing Yan, postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics at Ohio State. The discovery could change astronomers' notions of how galaxies formed in the early universe. Yan is part of an international team of astronomers who are using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to probe the distant universe.
Read more: http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/deeplens.htm
Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v469/n7329/full/nature09619.html