Sure enough, light from Refsdal showed up in the sky again in 2015 ( SN: 1/5/16).
The combined effect on the light from Refsdal is so strong that in 2014, Kelly predicted that one more image from the supernova would be delayed by another year. The location and arrival times of the images we see depend on three things: the distribution of matter in the galaxy cluster that makes up the lens the distances between Earth, the lens and the supernova and the Hubble constant. The cross resulted because the gravity of a cluster of galaxies between the Earth and Refsdal distorts space and time to create a gravitational lens that deflects the light on its way to us. Instead of a single burst in the sky, Kelly says, “We saw four images of it.” They formed a pattern known as an Einstein Cross. In 2014, astronomer Patrick Kelly of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis discovered the Refsdal supernova in images from the Hubble Space Telescope. They’re among the most violent and brilliant events in the universe. Supernovas are massive explosions that come at the ends of some stars’ life cycles.
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