Astronomers made the discovery with the Hubble Space Telescope, operated by the US space agency NASA. The researchers estimated that the star was 50 to 100 times the mass of our sun and millions of times brighter. It takes billions of years for light to reach Earth from distant stars. The team said the starlight is believed to have traveled for 12.9 billion years before reaching our planet. This means that the star would exist when the universe was about seven percent of its current age. A member of the research team, Brian Welch, named the extremely hot and glowing star Earendel. This is an old English name meaning morning star or rising light. “We see the star as it was about 12.8 billion years ago, which puts it about 900 million years after the Big Bang,” Welch said. He is a PhD student at Johns Hopkins University in the state of Maryland. He was the lead author of a study describing the finding in the journal Nature. The Big Bang is the explosion that many scientists believe created the universe. “We were definitely lucky,” Welch said of the discovery. Although scientists on Earth can now see its light, Earendel itself certainly no longer exists, Welch said. This is because such huge stars have a short lifespan. The star probably existed for several hundred million years before dying in a supernova explosion, Welch added. The previous holder of the record is called Icarus. It is a similar, huge star observed by Hubble. It is believed to have formed 9.4 billion years ago. In both cases, astronomers were able to see light from the star due to a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. It is the result of gravity from groups of nearest galaxies between Earth and the star. Gravity acts as a lens to magnify distant objects in the background. Hubble has observed light from galaxies dating back about 400 years after the Big Bang. But single stars at such great distances cannot be identified. “Usually they all squeeze together,” said NASA astrophysicist Jane Rigby, who participated in the study. He said, “Here, nature has given us this one star – it is greatly, greatly magnified, magnified by thousands of factors – so that we can study it.” “It’s such a gift from the universe,” Rigby added. Welch said Earendel may have been the main star in a two-star system, or possibly even a three- or four-star system. Note that there is a small chance it may be a black hole. But he added that the observations made in 2016 and 2019 suggest that this is not the case. The researchers said NASA’s James Webb Telescope should help them learn more about the star and its parent galaxy. The Webb telescope is 100 times more powerful than the Hubble. Rigby said that by studying the stars: “We literally understand where we come from because we are made up of a little bit of this stardust.” My name is Bryan Lynn. The Associated Press and Reuters reported the story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English.
Words in this story
definitive – adj. certain, stable and unlikely to change supernova – a star that has exploded, sharply increasing its brightness for a period of time lens – n. a piece of equipment, made of glass or plastic, with a curved surface used to make images larger or clearer magnify – v. I make something look bigger crush, flatten or move close factor – n. a certain level in some measurement systems literally – infl. using the actual or original meaning of a word or phrase We want to hear from you. Write us in the Comments section and visit our Facebook page.
title: “Astronomers Discover Most Distant Star On Record " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-24” author: “Rita Short”
Astronomers made the discovery with the Hubble Space Telescope, operated by the US space agency NASA. The researchers estimated that the star was 50 to 100 times the mass of our sun and millions of times brighter. It takes billions of years for light to reach Earth from distant stars. The team said the starlight is believed to have traveled for 12.9 billion years before reaching our planet. This means that the star would exist when the universe was about seven percent of its current age. A member of the research team, Brian Welch, named the extremely hot and glowing star Earendel. This is an old English name meaning morning star or rising light. “We see the star as it was about 12.8 billion years ago, which puts it about 900 million years after the Big Bang,” Welch said. He is a PhD student at Johns Hopkins University in the state of Maryland. He was the lead author of a study describing the finding in the journal Nature. The Big Bang is the explosion that many scientists believe created the universe. “We were definitely lucky,” Welch said of the discovery. Although scientists on Earth can now see its light, Earendel itself certainly no longer exists, Welch said. This is because such huge stars have a short lifespan. The star probably existed for several hundred million years before dying in a supernova explosion, Welch added. The previous holder of the record is called Icarus. It is a similar, huge star observed by Hubble. It is believed to have formed 9.4 billion years ago. In both cases, astronomers were able to see light from the star due to a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. It is the result of gravity from groups of nearest galaxies between Earth and the star. Gravity acts as a lens to magnify distant objects in the background. Hubble has observed light from galaxies dating back about 400 years after the Big Bang. But single stars at such great distances cannot be identified. “Usually they all squeeze together,” said NASA astrophysicist Jane Rigby, who participated in the study. He said, “Here, nature has given us this one star – it is greatly, greatly magnified, magnified by thousands of factors – so that we can study it.” “It’s such a gift from the universe,” Rigby added. Welch said Earendel may have been the main star in a two-star system, or possibly even a three- or four-star system. Note that there is a small chance it may be a black hole. But he added that the observations made in 2016 and 2019 suggest that this is not the case. The researchers said NASA’s James Webb Telescope should help them learn more about the star and its parent galaxy. The Webb telescope is 100 times more powerful than the Hubble. Rigby said that by studying the stars: “We literally understand where we come from because we are made up of a little bit of this stardust.” My name is Bryan Lynn. The Associated Press and Reuters reported the story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English.
Words in this story
definitive – adj. certain, stable and unlikely to change supernova – a star that has exploded, sharply increasing its brightness for a period of time lens – n. a piece of equipment, made of glass or plastic, with a curved surface used to make images larger or clearer magnify – v. I make something look bigger crush, flatten or move close factor – n. a certain level in some measurement systems literally – infl. using the actual or original meaning of a word or phrase We want to hear from you. Write us in the Comments section and visit our Facebook page.
