Earendel: the furthest star ever imaged by a telescope

In late March 2022, the Hubble Space Telescope helped break the record for the most distant star ever imaged in modern history. The star, named Earendel is so distant that its light has been travelling toward us for 12.9 billion years hence the star has existed for almost as long as the 13.7 billion-year-old Universe itself.

Here’s a quick list of facts about Earendel that may come in handy if you ever find yourself on a trivia game show.

The magnification line (brown dashed), known as the Sunrise Arc, represents light from stars that has been magnified and distorted by a foreground galaxy cluster. The position of Earendel within the lensed image is shown in addition to a star cluster which is mirrored about the lensed arc.

The origin of the star’s name
The star has been named Earendel which, in Old English, translates as “morning star”. If you’re a Lord of the Rings geek, you may also recognise this as the name of a half-elven and half-human character called Earendil who sails the seas carrying a Silmaril or “morning star” jewel.

Which journal published Earendel’s discovery?
The observations and analysis that led to the imaging of Earendel were published in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature, on 31 March 2022. In capturing the more crucial details of the discovery, the authors selected a rather short and sweet title: “A highly magnified star at redshift 6.2” which immediately brings one’s attention to the fact that (a) the star is pretty far away and (b) astronomers were able to image the star because its light had been magnified in some way. Let’s…