NASA announced that the Hubble Space Telescope has captured the most distant star ever discovered.
NASA announced that the Hubble has captured an image of the most distant star ever discovered. Hubble detected starlight that appears to have been created within the first 900 million years of the universe’s birth. The star is so far away that its light took 12.9 billion years to reach Earth. The smallest objects previously seen at such a distance are star clusters embedded within early galaxies. The star was revealed through a detailed analysis of images by astronomer Brian Welch and his team, who were examining the star’s “home” called the Sunrise Arc galaxy.
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NASA on Earendel: The most distant star ever discovered
The star has been named Earendel. The previous holder of the title for the most distant star was MACS J1149+2223 Lensed Star 1, which is about 9 billion light-years from Earth and formed about 4.4 billion years after the Big Bang. That star was also found by Hubble in 2018.
"We almost couldn't believe it at first, it was so much further away than the previous most distant star," said astronomer Brian Welch. The discovery was made from data collected during RELICS ) program, led by co-author Dan Coe at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), in Baltimore.
Stars were not always made from exactly the same gaseous materials and usually fall into one of three generations known as Population 1 (like our sun), Population 2 and Population 3.
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Population 2 and 3 stars are associated with the oldest parts of the universe and can show scientists what the early universe was like and the conditions that eventually led to suns like ours, as well as the formation of planets. The most distant star from Earth, Earendel, is very large. It is estimated to be 50 times more massive than our sun and millions of times more luminous.
The light from Earendel was not observed by the Hubble Space Telescope directly, but rather through gravitational lensing. As Einstein correctly predicted, massive objects warp the fabric of space-time. For astronomers, this means that light passing around a star or galaxies can reveal objects that lie further behind them.
NASA and astronomer Welch say a massive galaxy system, WHL0137-08, lies between Earth and the star Earendel. The phenomenon acts as a natural magnifying glass that amplifies light from objects far beyond the galaxy cluster. Somehow, the Hubble telescope was able to capture the most distant star ever found, Earendel.
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The James Webb Space Telescope will continue the work of Hubble
The James Webb Space Telescope , which will become fully operational in the coming months, will continue the work of the Hubble telescope. Webb is 100 times more powerful than Hubble, and there are already plans to train it in the part of space where the star Earendel is located.
Scientists expect Webb to confirm whether Earendel is a star or a binary star system. It will also be able to accurately measure the star's brightness and temperature, helping experts determine whether it is indeed one of the first stars to form from only hydrogen and helium.
A few words about Hubble
Hubble is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. Named after astronomer Edwin Hubble , it is one of NASA's Great Observatories. The telescope has provided scientists with invaluable data through images of planets, stars , and entire galaxies.
Source: www.slashgear.com
