2025/07/09 by Riffel, Rogemar A., Melo-Carneiro, Carlos R., Souza-Oliveira, Gabriel Luan +10
#Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2507.06696
We report the detection of a gravitationally lensed galaxy by the nearby spiral galaxy CGCG 012-070 (z = 0.048) using Integral Field Unit (IFU) observations with the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument on board the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The lensed galaxy is identified through the flux distributions of emission lines in the rest-frame optical, consistent with a source located at a redshift of z∼2.89. The system is detected in [O III]λλ4959,5007, Hβ, and Hα emission lines, exhibiting line ratios typical of a star-forming galaxy. The emission-line flux distributions reveal three distinct components, which are modeled using an elliptical power-law (EPL) mass profile for the lens galaxy. This model provides a good characterization of the source and reveals a disturbed star-forming morphology consistent with those of galaxies at cosmic noon. This serendipitous discovery of a rare low-redshift strong lens highlights the critical role of IFU observations in expanding the lens census and advancing our understanding of galaxy mass profiles and evolution.