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
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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 But the galaxy cluster captured in the image, known as SMACS 0723, serves as a gravitational lens, bringing to light more distant galaxies. Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 12 July 2022 The image, the deepest infrared shot ever taken, shows a foreground galaxy cluster called SMACS 0723 that is acting as gravitational lens, revealing much more distant galaxies behind it. Christopher Cokinos, Discover Magazine, 12 July 2022 With microlensing, a foreground object can act as a gravitational lens to bend and amplify the light from a distant background star. Bruce Dorminey, Forbes, 11 June 2022 The mass of that closer galaxy acts as a gravitational lens, bending SPT0418–47’s rays toward Earth so that ALMA can get a better image. Daniel Clery, Science | AAAS, 12 Aug. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1937, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of gravitational lens was in 1937

Cite this Entry

“Gravitational lens.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gravitational%20lens. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.

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