benignmischief:

 Gravitational Lensing - The spacetime around a massive object (like a black hole or galaxy cluster) is so curved by the object’s gravitational field that it bends light from a background source and distorts the background object’s image x.


Abell 2218 (Galaxy Cluster)

The Cosmic Horseshoe aka LRG 3-757 x.

Einstein’s Cross aka  Q2237+030 x.

Abell 1689 (Galaxy Cluster)

MACS J1206 (Galaxy Cluster)

RCS2 032727-132623 (Galaxy Cluster)


Image credits: NASA, ESA/Hubble