This animation simulates the effect of a gravitational lens.
The first picture is an optical image of a typical spiral galaxy that acts as the lens in this demonstration. So that the lensing effect is more clearly visible, the galaxy is represented by a yellow circle.
Next, a view of a distant quasar as seen by a radio telescope is shown in the left panel. In this demonstration, the quasar is moved behind the galaxy from the top left of the frame to the lower right. The right panel shows what we would see from Earth as the gravity of the galaxy bends the light from the quasar.
When the quasar is directly behind the galaxy, the light is distorted into an Eintein ring similar to that seen in 1830-211.
