How does the fifth image form in the Einstein Cross?

“A mysterious fifth image inside a rare Einstein Cross exposed a massive halo of dark matter, giving astronomers a rare chance to study both the distant galaxy and the invisible structures shaping the cosmos. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.com” (ScitechDaily, Astronomers Spot “Impossible” Fifth Image Unlocking Dark Matter Secrets)

“The Einstein Cross (Q2237+0305 or QSO 2237+0305) is a gravitationally lensed quasar that sits directly behind the centre of the galaxy ZW 2237+030, called Huchra's Lens. Four images of the same distant quasar (plus one in the centre, too dim to see) appear in the middle of the foreground galaxy due to strong gravitational lensing. This system was discovered by John Huchra and coworkers in 1985, although at the time they only detected that there was a quasar behind a galaxy based on differing redshifts and did not resolve the four separate images of the quasar.” (Wikipedia, Einstein Cross)

The reason why the fifth image is possible. The thing. That is, the gravitational lens is a quasar. This is a straight line just behind the galaxy that the gravitational lens will make those four images. The distance to the galaxy is about 400 million ly. And the distance to that quasar is 8 billion light-years. 

The fifth image formed in Einstein Cross is of a supermassive object. In the middle of the image. Pulls radiation back in  focus. This means there is a galaxy that turns light into the form where radiation forms the four images of the single galaxy. The mass that focuses radiation forming that fifth must be between the galaxy (or in this case, quasar) and the observer. 

“Einstein cross: Four images of the same distant quasar (due to the gravitational lensing of the galaxy closest to us, shown in the foreground, the Huchra Lens).(Wikipedia, Einstein Cross)

“Hubble Space Telescope captures Einstein Cross.” (Wikipedia, Einstein Cross)

“A rare cosmic configuration: An Einstein Cross with five points of light, instead of the usual four, has been discovered by scientists. Credit: P. Cox et al. – ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)”  (ScitechDaily, Astronomers Spot “Impossible” Fifth Image Unlocking Dark Matter Secrets)

So, there is an object between the distant galaxy and the Earth. The thing that observers cannot see about the object makes it interesting. Can it be some kind of dark matter formation, or maybe there is some kind of black hole between that distant galaxy and Earth? 

But if there is a supermassive black hole between Earth and that distant galaxy, why can't we see that black hole’s halo or the galaxy that should form around it? Of course, that halo can also be a quasar, but the problem is how the thing that forms the radiation cone can remain unseen? The quasar is behind the galaxy. It is in a straight line to Earth. The galaxy or the object that collects radiation into the fifth image is a straight line between Earth and that distant galaxy. 

There is a possibility that gravitational microlensing can also form the Einstein Cross. The gravitational microlensing. Means a black hole that is in our galaxy that bends light. All black holes act as gravitational lenses. In the case of a black hole, the term means a black hole that is at a certain distance from Earth. The microlensing is similar. But a smaller phenomenon. Than the full-size gravitational lensing. There is a possibility that planets. Or other, less massive objects can also form a gravitational lens. And in the case of planets, white dwarfs, and neutron stars. We can talk about microlensing. The neutron stars and planets with no atmosphere are excellent objects. To observe microlensing. In the cases of the stars. The atmosphere makes it hard to separate the gravitational lensing from the effect that the star’s atmosphere causes. 

https://www.constellation-guide.com/einstein-cross/

https://scitechdaily.com/astronomers-spot-impossible-fifth-image-unlocking-dark-matter-secrets/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_Cross

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huchra%27s_lens

The fifth image uncovers the nature of dark matter.

"A mysterious fifth image inside a rare Einstein Cross exposed a massive halo of dark matter, giving astronomers a rare chance to study both the distant galaxy and the invisible structures shaping the cosmos. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.com" (ScitechDaily, Astronomers Spot “Impossible” Fifth Image Unlocking Dark Matter Secrets)

Einstein’s cross is the gravitational effect where gravity bends light; its image is multiplied to appear as if it were four galaxies. The fifth image in Einstein’s cross was caused by an invisible massive object. That massive object could be a massive dark matter cloud. This effect tells us about the nature of dark matter. We know that only confirmed interaction between dark and visible matter is gravitational. Dark matter can also form things like black holes. The black hole that dark matter’s mutual gravity effect forms could exist in intergalactic space. This kind of black hole could get its energy from dark matter. 

And the gravitational microlensing can uncover this kind of black hole. The black hole pulls so small an amount of visible matter that this black hole cannot form a bright halo that could be seen from Earth. Dark matter can form a wave movement, where the wavelength is the same as the diameter of a hypothetical weakly interacting massive particle, WIMPs. That means that those WIMPs could be a source of dark energy when a black hole pulls those particles. That thing makes those particles impact and press energy into them. Black holes pull energy inside them. 

"A rare cosmic configuration: An Einstein Cross with five points of light, instead of the usual four, has been discovered by scientists. Credit: P. Cox et al. – ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)" (ScitechDaily, Astronomers Spot “Impossible” Fifth Image Unlocking Dark Matter Secrets)

And this means. Black holes can also pull dark energy into them. If dark energy interacts with dark matter particles near black holes, that energy causes them to glow. And maybe, that glow is at least one part of the dark energy. We know that dark matter is not homogeneously spread across the universe. Gravitational centers pull dark matter around them. And that means galaxies, and especially black holes and neutron stars, are pulling dark matter halos around them. Those effects are micro-level phenomena. If we compare them with galaxy-size effects. 

Almost all galaxies are surrounded by dark matter halos, but there are exceptions. And that means dark matter can form similar structures with visible material. In galaxies, dark matter has a gravitational effect. Allows galaxies to rotate faster than they would without dark matter’s effect. Without dark matter, the centripetal force breaks the galactic structures. So, a galaxy that has no dark matter should spin more slowly. The dark matter halo outside the galaxy pulls material out, and the supermassive black hole with the object’s mutual gravity keeps galaxies in their form. 

https://scitechdaily.com/astronomers-spot-impossible-fifth-image-unlocking-dark-matter-secrets/

Organic molecules don’t mean life. And mysterious methane and rings in the Kuiper Belt.

  Organic molecules don’t mean life. And mysterious methane and rings in the Kuiper Belt. 

“An artist’s impression of plumes erupting onto the surface of Enceladus. Its fellow moon Titan is seen in the sky, and the distant Sun beyond. Credit: ESA/Science Office”

Saturn’s moon Enceladus has long dazzled scientists with its icy plumes that spew water and mysterious organic molecules into space, fueling hopes of a habitable ocean beneath. But new experiments suggest the story may be more complicated.”

“Researchers found that radiation bombarding Enceladus’s frozen surface could be producing many of the same organics detected in the plumes — meaning they might not come from the hidden ocean at all. This twist forces scientists to rethink how we interpret signs of habitability on icy moons.” (The Shocking Twist in the Search for Life on Saturn’s Icy Moon)

“Electron microscopy revealed chain structures resembling living organisms in meteorite fragment ALH84001” (Wikipedia, Allan Hills 84001). If those remnants are bacteria, they can be from Earth. There is a possibility that those bacteria. If they are bacteria. that came from Antarctic ice, and they traveled to the meteorite. Because its heat “called” those bacteria. Anyway, that meteorite is polluted. The temperature in Antarctica is not so low that it could keep that meteorite sterile. 

“An image of the rock named “Cheyava Falls” in the “Bright Angel formation” in Jezero crater, Mars collected by the WATSON camera onboard the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. The image shows a rust-colored, organic matter bearing sedimentary mudstone sandwiched between bright white layers of another composition. The small dark blue/green to black colored nodules and ring-shaped reaction fronts that have dark rims, and bleached interiors are proposed to be potential biosignatures. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS” (ScitechDaily, Strange Mars Mudstones May Hold the Strongest Clues Yet of Ancient Life)

“NASA’s Perseverance rover has uncovered mysterious mudstones in Mars’ Jezero Crater that contain organic carbon and strange mineral textures.” (ScitechDaily, Strange Mars Mudstones May Hold the Strongest Clues Yet of Ancient Life)

“These features, possibly shaped by redox reactions similar to those fueled by microbes on Earth, may represent potential biosignatures.” (ScitechDaily, Strange Mars Mudstones May Hold the Strongest Clues Yet of Ancient Life)

Confirmed life in our solar system is limited to planet Earth. All other harbors for life are hypothetical. It’s possible that there have been some kind of lifeforms on Mars, but before there is any laboratory analysis about samples brought from Mars, nothing is more uncertain than uncertain. NASA says that there is “strong evidence” that some primitive lifeforms, like prokaryotic bacteria, could have lived on Mars a long time ago. 

Confirmation about that thing can be very difficult. If there have been some bacteria on Mars, the thin atmosphere that lets UV-radiation reach the Mars surface can destroy all genetic material. From those bacteria.  Those remnants would be hollows in stones. Without DNA or RNA, it is impossible to confirm that some form is from bacteria. 

There are strange forms in some meteorites, but the problem is that those meteorites, including Allan Hills 84001 from Antarctica, are polluted. That means those primitive bacterial fossils, if they are bacterial fossils, can be from Earth. There have also been organic materials in Saturn's Enceladus moons' icy geysers. There is a possibility that these organic materials are formed due to sunlight. 

Maybe Saturn will pull ions to Enceladus, and that can cause the formation of those organic compounds. But as we know, there is a possibility that there can be lifeforms in that icy world. Otherwise, Organic molecules can form. Because of some kind of chemical reactions that have no biological origin. 

“An SwRI-led team used Webb telescope observations (white) to detect methane gas on the distant dwarf planet Makemake. Sharp emission peaks near 3.3 microns reveal methane in the gas phase above Makemake’s surface. A continuum model (cyan) is overlaid for comparison; the gas emission peaks are identified where the observed spectrum rises above the continuum. An artistic rendering of Makemake’s surface is shown in the background. Credit: Courtesy of S. Protopapa, I. Wong/SwRI/STScI/NASA/ESA/CSA” (ScitechDaily, Webb Telescope Detects Gas on Distant Dwarf Planet Makemake for the First Time)

Telescopes noticed gas on the dwarf planet Makemake. 

The surprise was that the gas JWST detected is methane. That means there are some chemical reactions on those distant worlds. Those dwarf planets like Makemake are so far away that they cannot get methane from places like Titan. And that is one of the most interesting things in the universe. There is a possibility that weak energy from the distant sun, along with some ions, can have so much energy that. It can push carbon and hydrogen together in a very low-energy but stable environment. 

 Makemake is far away from Earth in the Kuiper Belt. That dwarf planet is one of the coldest places in our solar system. That’s why existing gas is a surprise. But conditions in the Kuiper Belt are incredibly stable. Makemake can pull gases from space around it. And that thing makes it possible that those dwarf planets have a thin atmosphere. Those objects called trans-Neptunian objects TNOs are so far away from the sun that the solar wind has no force to blow those atmospheres away. And that’s why some dwarf planets like Makemake can have atmospheres. 

“Artist's impression of Quaoar with its ring and its moon Weywot” (Wikipedia, Quaoar)

“Quaoar compared to the Earth and the Moon” (Wikipedia, Quaoar)

Researchers noticed that the dwarf planet Quaoar may have another moon or some unknown ring system. Quaoar has a ring system and one known moon. That is an incredible thing, because that dwarf planet is very small. The ring system can form around that dwarf planet when its moon acts like Saturn’s and other gas planets’ rings. Shepherd moons that trap particles between them. 

The problem is that the shepherd moons are always on both sides of their ring. There is a possibility that Quaoar’s moon Weywot and its gravity can trap those particles between Quaoar and Weywot, but is that moon’s and Quaoar’s gravity so strong that they can trap those particles? 

But those rings are in the place where those planets’ Van Allen belts are. Shepherd moons from holes between rings. But the plasma ring. Around those gas giants is the thing that traps most of those particles. That means Quaoar must, or should have, some kind of magnetic field. 

That dwarf planet is mysterious. It's too small for internal nuclear reactions to form those plasma rings. Its moon seems very far away from that dwarf planet. And that is one of the most interesting things about that distant and mysterious object. 

https://phys.org/news/2025-09-discovery-moon-orbiting-mysterious-distant.html

https://scitechdaily.com/the-shocking-twist-in-the-search-for-life-on-saturns-icy-moon/

https://scitechdaily.com/space-mystery-unexpected-new-ring-system-discovered-in-our-own-solar-system/

https://scitechdaily.com/strange-mars-mudstones-may-hold-the-strongest-clues-yet-of-ancient-life/

https://scitechdaily.com/webb-telescope-detects-gas-on-distant-dwarf-planet-makemake-for-the-first-time/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Hills_84001

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaoar