Astronomers have discovered a rare "Einstein Cross" gravitational lens, revealing a young galaxy with shockingly mature stars.
The galaxy in question is J1453g, an elliptical galaxy that is the first gravitational lens at a large cosmic distance for which astronomers have been able to precisely "weigh." J1453g lenses the light from a more distant quasar, a region of space dominated by a ravenously feeding supermassive black hole, magnifying it and causing it to appear multiple times in the same image in the shape of a cross.
