gravitational lens

noun

: a massive celestial object (such as a galaxy) that bends and focuses the light of another more distant object (such as a quasar) by gravity and that is usually detected by the multiple images it forms of the second object

Examples of gravitational lens in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The enormous cluster acts as a gravitational lens, bending and magnifying light from objects behind it. — Samantha Mathewson, Space.com, 25 Sep. 2026

This effort will focus on the galactic bulge, where star density is much higher, and will take advantage of the fact that a planet can act as a small gravitational lens, briefly brightening any background stars that pass between it and Earth. — John Timmer, ArsTechnica, 23 Apr. 2026

These CubeSats could then make a 25-year journey to the solar gravitational lens (SGL) point. — Joshua Hawkins, BGR, 26 July 2022

Such mirror images arise when an object’s light takes multiple paths around a gravitational lens. — Fionna M. D. Samuels, Scientific American, 21 July 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1937, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for gravitational lens

• bens
• cleanse
• dens
• gens
• glens
• hens
• jens
• pens
• tens
• wrens
• zens
• cheyennes