The James Webb Space Telescope has captured an image of the farthest known star in the universe, revealed only a few months ago by the universe’s precursor. networkHubble Space Telescope.

called a star Earendel, in honor of a JRR Tolkien character in the front section The Silmarillion of the Lord of the Rings. Gravitational lensing was first discovered in a deep-field image from the Hubble Space Telescope.

star that shines 12.9 billion light years When it reaches Earth, it’s so faint it may be hard to find in the new James Webb Space Telescope image. Picture posted excitement Using the Cosmic Spring JWST account by a group of astronomers on Aug.

The original Hubble image provides guidance on where to look for the magnified crop. Essentially, Earendel little white dot under a cluster of distant galaxies. Earendel can be found by comparing the Hubble image with the image captured by Webb.

“We’re excited to share the first JWST image of Earendel, the most distant star known in our universe. It’s focused and magnified by a massive galaxy cluster,” Cosmic Spring astronomers wrote in a tweet.

The tweet is referenced gravity Lens, effect that takes advantage of the fact that extremely large masses deflect light from objects behind them. When light passes through such an object, it behaves as if it were passing through the lens of a telescope. Its light increases, but at the same time it deteriorates. Therefore, the use of gravitational lenses expands the reach of telescopes like Hubble and Webb, allowing them to see farther and in greater detail.

Earendel, also known by its proper name WHL0137-LSIt is located in the constellation Cetus.

We are excited to share the first JWST image of Earendel, the most distant star known in our universe, lensed and magnified by a massive galaxy cluster. It was observed by the JWST program 2282 on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/YoZZKRsdzf

— Cosmic Spring JWST (@CosmicSprngJWST) August 2, 2022