Hubble may have caught the most distant star ever

Hubble Space Telescope added a new one to its observations. The telescope’s new observation comes from a star 12.9 billion light-years away. If confirmed, the star will be recorded as the most distant star ever discovered.

Confirmation will be assisted by James Webb

In a study based on data previously collected during Hubble’s RELICS program, a team led by Johns Hopkins University astronomer Brian Welch found that carried out the discovery of the most distant individual star.

Welch explains, “Normally, at these distances, entire galaxies look like tiny specks of mingling light from millions of stars. The galaxy hosting this star was magnified by gravitational lensing and distorted into a long crescent, which we call the Sunrise Arc.” said.

After examining the galaxy in which the object is located in detail, Welch determined that the imaged object was a star and named it Earendel, meaning “morning star” in Old English. Welch thinks Earendel could be the source of a lot of data to gather about very early star formation.

The team estimates that Earendel’s mass is at least 50 times the mass of the Sun and millions of times brighter. This suggests that Earendel could rival the most massive stars known.

Earendel has been discovered for now, but not yet confirmed. It will be observed by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and confirmed if it is indeed a star.

Hubble Space Telescope, In 2018, he observed MACS J1149+2223 Lensed Star 1, which glows when the universe was about 4 billion years old, and it was considered the most distant star ever observed. Earendel will become the new record holder if confirmed.