(I do agree with Angela Collier, youtuber nee physicst, Dark Matter is not a theory, it's an observation. We've looked out into the universe and have seen something that we call Dark Matter that our current theories don't match up with.)
This is a great podcast, with episode 6 concentrating specifically on Dark Matter and the evidence for it: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crash-course-pods-the-...
in any case, you can't say it's support for dark matter in this specific case without actually running the numbers (what are the rotational speeds and what is the bending curvature)
dark matter halos must have a somewhat specific distribution that goes beyond the perimeter of the visible galaxy itself.
however the more that i think about it this example is likely to be unhelpful. the closer galaxy looks elliptical and most dense elliptical galaxies "have no dark matter" (in basic MOND this is a phenomenon that falls out if the gravity law). We'd really need lensing from a more "normal" looking galaxy.
The galaxy behind it is magnified, and also distorted.
Here’s what I mean: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/01G529MX46J7...
These distant galaxies are incredibly faint, so I imagine that's the reason there are no obvious diffraction effects.
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2025/03/Webb_spies... ("Webb spies a spiral through a cosmic lens")
Some clarifying context not present in this OP (phys.org): this is a composite of Hubble visible-light images with Webb data.
Well no, but they probably would catch other wondrous images we can't catch due to our vantage point.
I love this
