An infrared view of the 9io9 galaxy

This infrared image shows the distant galaxy 9io9, seen here as a reddish arc curved around a bright nearby galaxy. This nearby galaxy acts as a gravitational lens: its mass curves spacetime around it, bending lightrays coming from 9io9 in the background, hence its distorted shape. This colour view results from combining infrared images taken with ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) in Chile and the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) in the US. Credit: ESO/J. Geach et al.