The star nicknamed Earendel, which means morning star in Old English, was spotted using the Hubble Space Telescope. Researchers estimate that it took light 12.9 billion years to reach Earth, which means it dates closer to the Big Bang (13.8 billion years ago) than the previous record-breaking star from nine billion years ago. Image: Observed using the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. Photo: NASA / ESA Earendel was discovered by an international team of researchers, including scientists from Durham University in the United Kingdom, led by the Space Telescope Science Institute in the United States. It was revealed using data collected during Hubble’s RELICS (Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey) program and the findings were published in the journal Nature. Dr Guillaume Mahler, of the University of Durham, said: “This may be the first star we will ever see since the Big Bang and it was so amazing that it is much younger than the previous entry of nine billion years, in the beginning. do not believe it. “The discovery of Arendel is fantastic and there will be many other aspects of the star that we can study that could keep us busy for years to come,” Dr Mahler added.
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Scientists are reluctant to confirm that Earendel is a single star at the moment, although if it were one it would be at least 50 times the mass of our Sun and millions of times brighter, making it one of the largest stars known. Image: Hubble has previously captured images of distant galaxies and star formation. Photo: NASA How was it found? Scientists have been able to detect it thanks to the physical magnification provided by a huge cluster of galaxies sitting between us and the star. This galaxy is so massive that it distorts the web of space, creating a kind of interstellar magnifying glass that distorts and amplifies light from objects behind it. “The gravitational lens is like observing galaxies under a microscope, and with technology like the Hubble telescope, you start to see what’s inside,” said Dr. Mahler. The team at Durham explained: “Thanks to the rare alignment with the galaxy magnifying glass, the star Earendel appears directly or very close to a ripple in the web of space. This ripple, which is defined in optics as “caustic”, provides maximum magnification and brightness. “The result is proportional to the wavy surface of a pool that creates patterns of bright light on the bottom of the pool on a sunny day. “The ripples on the surface act as lenses and focus sunlight at maximum brightness on the pool floor. This caustic makes the Earendel star escape the glow of its home galaxy. Its brightness is magnified by thousands,” he said. . Image: Earendel will now be studied by the recently launched James Webb Telescope The study’s lead author, Brian Welch, said: “We almost did not believe it at first, it was much further away from the previous farthest star. Normally at these distances, entire galaxies look like small smudges. This galaxy has been magnified and deformed by the gravitational lens into a long crescent called the “Oriental Arc”. “The study of Arendel will be a window into an era of the Universe that we are not familiar with, but that led to everything we know. “It’s like reading a really interesting book, but we started with the second chapter and now we have the opportunity to see how it all started.” Astronomers believe the alignment will take several times and Earendel will be observed by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which is the most powerful telescope in history and was launched last year. JWST is ideal for studying Earendel because its sensitivity to infrared light will help examine the light that reaches us from a star that has been stretched to infrared wavelengths due to the expansion of the universe. One of the study’s co-authors, Dan Coe of the Baltimore Space Telescope Science Institute, added: “With Webb we look forward to confirming that Earendel is a star, as well as measuring its brightness and temperature. “We are also waiting to see that the eastern arc lacks the heavy elements that form in the next generation of stars. This suggests that Earendel is a rare star with a large mass poor in minerals.” Another co-author, Selma de Mink, who is the scientific director of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, described the find as “somewhat like finding an old photograph of your ancestors, because these stars are basically our” stellar ancestors. ». . “It simply came to our notice then. However, we have so many unanswered questions. “The most exciting thing for me is that some of the black holes that were recently detected by gravitational waves are remnants of stars that lived then. I hope Earendel and future similar discoveries will help us understand a little more about the origin of these black holes.” de Mink added.
