The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was recently able to detect and study a distant star known as Earendel, which is located about 20,400 light-years away from Earth. This makes it the furthest star to ever be observed by humans. By using the JWST, astronomers are able to gain insight into the properties and histories of stars far out in the universe.
An international team used NASA’s Webb telescope to detect Earendel, the most distant star ever seen. The team identified the star thanks in part to a rare wrinkle in space-time known as an Einstein Ring. This phenomenon allowed researchers to measure the mass of Earendel as being 1.5 times heavier than the Sun.
The James Webb Space Telescope, poised to be the world’s most powerful space telescope, has recently targeted Earendel, the most distant known star from Earth, located 420 light years away. Earendel is estimated to be two million times fainter than what can be seen with the naked eye from Earth. This observation marks an important milestone in the mission of the JWST, as it measures the new telescope’s capabilities of finding and studying faint, distant stars.
