Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, D.Coe (STScI) and A. Pagan (STScI)

This image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows a massive galaxy cluster called WHL0137-08, and at the right, an inset of the most strongly magnified galaxy known in the universe’s first billion years: the Sunrise Arc. Within that galaxy is the most distant star ever detected, first discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument reveals the star, nicknamed Earendel, to be a massive B-type star more than twice as hot as our Sun, and about a million times more luminous. Stars of this mass often have companions. Astronomers did not expect Webb to reveal any companions of Earendel since they would be so close together and indistinguishable on the sky. However, based solely on the colors of Earendel detected by Webb, astronomers think they see hints of a cooler companion star.

Provider: Space Telescope Science Institute

Image Source: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-132

Curator: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA

Image Use Policy: http://stsci.edu/copyright/