The technique uses distant light amplified by the gravity of a massive star or planet to create an astronomical magnifying lens.

WSJ: Galaxy Hosts 100 Billion Planets, in New Estimate

The technique employed to find the new planet uses the gravitational field of a star like a lens - magnifying the light from a distant background star.

BBC: Tiniest extrasolar planet found

The curved glass had a magnifying effect, like a lens: inside, the pale-pink pill was disintegrating as if giving birth to a galaxy or the universe.

NEWYORKER: Meeting with Enrique Lihn

This, too, can have its magnifying power altered over time, but it works by implanting a permanent lens housing into the eye, and exchanging the lens as required.

ECONOMIST: Cataracts