Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery using the James Webb Space Telescope, observing the most distant star ever detected. The star, named Earendel, is so distant that its light was emitted within the first billion years of the universe. With the universe estimated to be around 13.8 billion years old, this makes Earendel an incredibly ancient object.
Previous estimates suggested that Earendel is located 12.9 billion light-years away from Earth. However, due to the expansion of the universe and the time it takes for light to travel such vast distances, astronomers now believe that Earendel is actually around 28 billion light-years away.
The star’s name comes from Old English words meaning “morning star” or “rising light.” Earendel was first spotted by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2022, but it is the observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope that have provided new insights into this distant star.
According to the Webb telescope, Earendel is a massive B-type star that is approximately 1 million times more luminous than our sun and more than twice as hot. It is located in the Sunrise Arc galaxy and was only observable due to a massive galaxy cluster called WHL0137-08 that magnified its light.
This magnification occurred through a phenomenon called gravitational lensing, where closer objects act as magnifying glasses for distant objects. In this case, the cluster of galaxies intensified the light of Earendel thousands of times.
In addition to studying Earendel, the Webb telescope also picked up details about the Sunrise Arc galaxy. It detected areas of star birth and small clusters of stars. Astronomers are still analyzing the data to determine the precise distance of the galaxy.
Studying extremely distant stars and galaxies like Earendel and the Sunrise Arc can help fill in gaps in our understanding of the early universe. It provides a glimpse into what our own Milky Way galaxy might have looked like billions of years ago.
Furthermore, the ability of the Webb telescope to study such a distant and small object gives hope to astronomers that it may one day be possible to observe the very first stars born after the birth of the universe.
The observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope have opened up new possibilities for exploring the universe and continue to expand our knowledge of its vastness and origins.