Summary Of Monica Young's Article Hubble Spots A Lensed Supernova
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In Monica Young’s article Hubble Spots a Lensed Supernova, she talk about “Einstein’s general theory of relativity [serving] up a treat [known as]: an Einstein cross” this is when two objects line up together involving a supernova. A supernova is an exploding star that occurs when a star is either at the end of its life cycle or has too much matter. According to Nola Redd in her article Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, she write that “Einstein’s general theory of relativity determines the laws of physics that are the same for all non-accelerating observers, and that the speed of light in a vacuum was independent of the motion of all observers, determining that massive objects cause a distortion in space-time, which is felt as gravity”.…show more content… She informs the reader that Sjur Refsdal in 1964 was the first to predict a supernova’s light could create a cross but only that under the right circumstances, the supernova’s light would have to line up exact right with another object. In other words the supernova would have to line up on the same plane with another object like the sun, moon and Earth lining up on the ecliptic plane during an eclipse. Young continues by explaining that the Hubble Space telescope had been observing the supernova for two weeks with a team of astronomers, however; according to Young those two week time of observation on Earth was only one week for the supernova because as “the universe expands, so does time” (Young). Through these observations astronomers found that the light coming from this cross is not from a type 1a supernova—the death of a white dwarf—but from a collapsing star. Young continues by informing the readers of possible obstacles like another smaller galaxies or clusters of gas that could have stopped or affect the astronomers from seeing this