Hubble telescope discovers the farthest star ever seen & its 50X massive than sun: NASA

In a record-breaking milestone, the Hubble Space Telescope has spotted the farthest star ever seen. Updating on the recent development, NASA revealed that the star is named Earendel existed when the universe was about 4 billion years old, or 30 percent of its current age. Interestingly, the star is so far, that its light took 12.9 billion years to reach Earth, which allowed scientists to know what it looked like when it was just 7% of its current age. 

Astronomer Brian Welch of Johns Hopkins University and the lead author of the research published in Nature said as per NASA, “We almost didn’t believe it at first, it was so much farther than the previous most-distant, highest redshift star”. The word ‘redshift’ is used by scientists to explain the expansion of the universe. As the universe expands, light from distant objects is stretched or “shifted” to longer, redder wavelengths as it travels away from its source. 

NASA said that the discovery was made using data during Hubble’s RELICS (Reionisation Lensing Cluster Survey) program and through a method called ‘gravitational lensing’. Gravitational lensing occurs when a tremendous mass warps the fabric of space and creates a powerful natural magnifying glass that distorts and greatly amplifies the light from distant objects behind it. 

More about the star Earendel

Scientists have named the star Earendel, which means “morning star”. According to the team led by Welch, this star has a mass at least 50 times and brightness about millions of times greater than the Sun. NASA revealed that it was the huge galaxy cluster, called WHL0137-08 that helped in discovering the star as it created a natural lens for the scientists to see. Since Earendel is massive in size, scientists are now working to find out if it is a binary star, meaning if it has a companion. 

(Image: NASA)

Once the James Webb Space Telescope is ready, scientists will use it as well to study Earendel in infrared light. Dan Coe, co-author of the study said, "With Webb we expect to confirm Earendel is indeed a star, as well as measure its brightness and temperature. We also expect to find the Sunrise Arc galaxy is lacking in heavy elements that form in subsequent generations of stars. This would suggest Earendel is a rare, massive metal-poor star".

Image: NASA