A POWERFUL telescope floating in space has discovered an extremely rare Einstein ring of light around a nearby galaxy. The Euclid telescope, from the European Space Agency, captured images of the

Professor Thomas Collett, from the University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, said such rings can help scientists test Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. He said: “This lens is particularly special because it’s in our cosmic backyard: a ‘mere’ 500 million light years away.

A European Space Agency telescope has discovered its first "extremely rare" Einstein ring in a galaxy "not too far away" nearly 600 million light years from Earth.

The "dark universe detective" space telescope Euclid has discovered its first Einstein ring in the process, learning about dark matter at the heart of a distant galaxy.