The Farthest Star Was Just Discovered, Formed Nearly 13 Billion Years Ago

Population 2 and 3 stars date back to the oldest parts of the universe, giving us valuable clues and insights into what the early universe was like and the conditions that eventually led to suns like ours, as well as the formation of planets. Earendel, like many older stars, is supermassive; estimates put the celestial body at 50 times the mass of our sun and millions of times brighter. It is the explosions of early generation stars like Earendel that helped to create the heavier elements found in subsequent stars that eventually led to the formation of planets, according to National Geographic.

The light from Earendel was not observed by the Hubble telescope in a direct line of sight but rather through gravitational lensing. As Einstein had correctly predicted, massive objects distort the fabric of space-time. For astronomers, this means light passing around a star or galaxies can reveal objects situated further behind them. 

In this instance, NASA says a huge galaxy cluster, WHL0137-08, is situated between Earth and Earendel. The galaxy cluster’s warping effect serves as a natural magnifying glass that substantially amplifies the light from objects well beyond it. Thanks to chance, Earendel also happens to be situated close to a ripple in the fabric of space that acts as an additional lens, which Hubble was able to utilize to capture it.