                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2022 April 6

                   Earendel: A Star in the Early Universe
   Image Credit: NASA, ESA, B. Welch (JHU), D. Coe (STScI); Processing: A.
                                Pagan (STScI)

   Explanation: Is Earendel the farthest star yet discovered? This
   scientific possibility started when the Hubble Space Telescope observed
   a huge cluster of galaxies. The gravitational lens effect of this
   cluster was seen to magnify and distort a galaxy far in the background.
   This distorted background galaxy -- so far away it has a redshift of
   6.2 -- appears in the featured image as a long red string, while beads
   on that string are likely to be star clusters.   The galaxy cluster
   lens creates a line of maximum magnification line where superposed
   background objects may appear magnified many thousands of times. On the
   intersection between the galaxy line and the maximum magnification line
   is one "bead" which shows evidence of originating from a single bright
   star in the early universe -- now named Earendel. Future investigations
   may include more imaging by Hubble to see how Earendel's brightness
   varies, and, quite possibly, by the new James Webb Space Telescope when
   it becomes operational later this year.  Earendel's great distance
   exceeds that of any known stable star -- although the star that
   exploded creating GRB 090423 had a redshift of 8.2.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

