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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                   2022 April 6   
      
                      Earendel: A Star in the Early Universe   
      Image Credit: NASA, ESA, B. Welch (JHU), D. Coe (STScI); Processing: A.   
                                   Pagan (STScI)   
      
      Explanation: Is Earendel the farthest star yet discovered? This   
      scientific possibility started when the Hubble Space Telescope observed   
      a huge cluster of galaxies. The gravitational lens effect of this   
      cluster was seen to magnify and distort a galaxy far in the background.   
      This distorted background galaxy -- so far away it has a redshift of   
      6.2 -- appears in the featured image as a long red string, while beads   
      on that string are likely to be star clusters.   The galaxy cluster   
      lens creates a line of maximum magnification line where superposed   
      background objects may appear magnified many thousands of times. On the   
      intersection between the galaxy line and the maximum magnification line   
      is one "bead" which shows evidence of originating from a single bright   
      star in the early universe -- now named Earendel. Future investigations   
      may include more imaging by Hubble to see how Earendel's brightness   
      varies, and, quite possibly, by the new James Webb Space Telescope when   
      it becomes operational later this year.  Earendel's great distance   
      exceeds that of any known stable star -- although the star that   
      exploded creating GRB 090423 had a redshift of 8.2.   
      
                          Tomorrow's picture: open space   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.   
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                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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