For this reason, gravity can act as a sort of a lens, distorting the
light from a distant star or galaxy.
One thing this can do is to increas the total amount of light from the distant source that reaches the Earth.
If the bending is enough, we could get two images of a distant point
source of light.
Cnsider a very distant light source that is not a point but is spread out, like a galaxy. Consider a very distant galaxy or group of galaxies that lies between us and the light source and acts as a strong bending object. Then we can get a distorted image.
Davison E. Soper, Institute of Theoretical Science, University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403 USA soper@bovine.uoregon.edu
