2023-08-12 18:04:39
Earendel, here analyzed by the James Webb telescope, had already been observed by the Hubble telescope in March 2022. NASA
After discovering it in 2022, NASA now knows more about this star, located 28 billion light years from our planet Earth.
Head in the stars. On Tuesday August 8, James Webb, NASA’s space telescope, photographed the most distant star ever observed. The star, named Earendel (Editor’s note: “morning Starin Old English), is 28 billion light-years from our planet, and was spotted in March 2022 by the Hubble telescope. The unequaled precision of the James Webb telescope, a device worth more than 10 billion dollars, makes it possible to learn more about Earendel.
A star 1 million times brighter than the Sun
Earendel is so remote that its light, captured by the James Webb, was emitted within the first billion years after the Big Bang. All this while the age of the Universe is estimated at 13.8 billion years. According to NASA, the star that held the previous record was dated 3 billion years after the origin of the Universe.
The NASA satellite’s infrared cameras confirm that Earendel is a type-B star: a star with blue-white colors, very bright and hot. Indeed, the temperature of Earendel is twice that of the Sun, according to the observations of James Webb. Earendel would also be nearly a million times brighter than the Sun.
NASA astronomers also believe they have identified warmer colors near Earendel. This could mean that Earendel is not alone, that she is part of a binary star: two stars that orbit around a common center of gravity.
The James Webb’s infrared cameras will also help to learn more about Sunrise Arc, the Earendel galaxy. According to NASA, several sets of data analyzes should allow astronomers to know the size and precise composition of the galaxy. No doubt, the James Webb telescope is pushing astronomy into another dimension.
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