when young i had always enjoyed playing with magnifying glasses,
from looking at small things in more detail to the curious effect sunlight has when the correct angles and distences are observed, focused light to a fine point.
no ants involved..
very quickly it becomes appairent how "hot" the focal point is (sunney day no clouds).
then when we consider the you tube videos of small mirrors "glued" to a satalite dish that form a parabolic mirror of amazing power.
some scientists have made "near perfect" reflective devices able to melt rock


so what happens when you have a Giant Optical magnifying glass in space?



that works like this




but this also causes a "optical caustic"



galaxies have the ability to act like magnifying glass,(imagine the fun of playing around with that)
we could look directly into a far away galaxy and study smaller parts of the universe




or if some light source was avaliable we could find a caustic or focal point (like with the magnifying glass)

and in some cases if the angle of light source and distence scales are correct the focus is on an angle of incidence common to ours with it we get a Giant Lazer Disco

(image for illustrative purpose, not a giant "focal flare")


so if a massive light source was shining directly on the lens one one side would there be a focal point of the path of light as it traveled throught the lense?
and would it be internal to or external to the lens?

this is an infra red image of a galaxy and light has creates 4 images of the backround "magnifyed" galaxy
in fact like the fine detail that was missed without the hand held magnifying glass, the 4 images of the distent galaxy would not be seen at all.




could Active Galaxy Nucleus (bright active galaxies) and the acociated quasar have anything to do with this?



could Giant Magnifying lenses create Giant focal points collecting and focusing light?

would the focus of a whole galaxy worth of light be powerful enough at the focus the light into a Giant caustic?

simulated caustic


with the right angles of incidence the lens could be looking into its center as the focus,
increasing the size of the centeral object

visual representation only (not considered a gravitational lens)
credit hubble space telescope



imagine having a lens with acociated caustic
(simulated caustic formed from binary sun system)


and a focal point exterior to the galaxy

these focal points could power massive jets




or even prove a propulsive force to whole galaxies

imagine the super clusters are able to be even larger magnifying glasses


im glad we cant angle these giant lenses because im sure there would be some that would want to burn something to see what its made of

all speculation today lol

xploder

cool find

I love learning about stuff like that - discovering things that have been around for ages, and all the possibilities with it. Interesting stuff

Awesome find! Thanks for sharing. Nature is an endlessly fascinating beast, isn't she?

cool find

but im left confused and dumbfounded

Originally posted by Gemini67
cool find

but im left confused and dumbfounded

if the galaxies are capable of magnifying images,
they are also able to collect and focus light,
if you have ever played with a hand held magnifying glass in the sun,
you will now the power of the focused sun,

now imagine the galaxy as a giant hand held magnifyer,
if enough light goes through the lens there should be a focal point for the light and
it would be "hot"

xploder

while im throwing around speculation,
i think some of the brightest sources of light around are being amplifyed by many many gravitational lenses?
on much larger scales could large "clusters" of smaller lenses increase the detectable light?

image for illistrative purpose
(not many small gravity lenses)


image used to show "group" lensing
(not acual observation)

so could many lenses cause a much smaller source "appair" much brighter than it is?

xploder

Now imagine burning ants using a galaxy as a magnifying glass.....



Great thread.



Edit:Okay, reading the replies now I see I was beaten to my pun..

picture of Active Galaxy Nucleus and jet




source wiki
xploder