Uncovering a population of gravitational lens galaxies with magnified standard candle SN Zwicky

• DOI: 10.1038/s41550-023-01981-3
• Publication Date: 2023-06-12T16:02:21Z
• Authors: Ariel Goobar; Joel Johansson; Steve Schulze; Nikki Arendse; Ana Sagués Carracedo; Suhail Dhawan; Edvard Mörtsell; Christoffer Fremling; Lin Yan; Daniel Perley; Jesper Sollerman; Rémy Joseph; K-Ryan Hinds; William Meynardie; Igor Andreoni; Eric Bellm; Josh Bloom; Thomas E. Collett; Andrew Drake; Matthew Graham; Mansi Kasliwal; Shri R. Kulkarni; Cameron Lemon; Adam A. Miller; James D. Neill; Jakob Nordin; Justin Pierel; Johan Richard; Reed Riddle; Mickael Rigault; Ben Rusholme; Yashvi Sharma; Robert Stein; Gabrielle Stewart; Alice Townsend; Jozsef Vinko; J. Craig Wheeler; Avery Wold
• Keywords: Cosmic distance ladder; Einstein radius

Detecting gravitationally lensed supernovae is among the biggest challenges in astronomy. It involves a combination of two very rare phenomena: catching transient signal stellar explosion distant galaxy and observing it through nearly perfectly aligned foreground that deflects light towards observer. Here we describe how high-cadence optical observations with Zwicky Transient Facility, its unparalleled large field view, led to detection multiply imaged type Ia supernova, SN Zwicky, also known as 2022qmx. Magnified 25-fold, system was found thanks standard candle nature supernovae. High-spatial-resolution imaging Keck telescope resolved four images supernova small angular separation, corresponding an Einstein radius only