Star Spotted in Universe’s First Billion Years

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

 

Video imagery:

· Hubble image of galaxy cluster WHL0137-08 and objects magnified behind it: NASA, ESA

· Hubble image with pull-out box and arrow indicating the star nicknamed Earendel: NASA, ESA, Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

· Hubble image of the star nicknamed Earendel with explanatory graphics: NASA, ESA, Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Writer: Leah Ramsay

Designer: Leah Hustak, Joseph Olmsted

Science review: Dr. Quyen Hart

Education review: Jim Manning

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Objects and gases of various colors in outer space. Text, News from the Universe

 

March 30, 2022. Star Spotted In Universe's First Billion Years

 

Telescopes can see into the distant past because light in the early universe has traveled through space to reach us - at 186,000 miles per second.

 

Far surpassing its own record, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a star in the first billion years of the universe.

 

The star is detectable thanks to a lucky alignment behind a galaxy cluster so massive that its gravity warps the fabric of space, creating a natural magnifying glass.

 

A graphic depicts a mirrored star cluster and magnification line relative to Earendel. Text, The star, nicknamed Earendel, happens to be positioned along a line of maximum magnification.

 

Light fromEarendel took 12.9 billion years to reach Earth.

 

The James Webb Space Telescope will follow up to investigate the star's characteristics and provide new insight into this period of cosmic history.

 

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This news was brought to you in part by the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD