The Hubble Space Telescope spots the farthest individual star ever seen

Using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered an enormous blue star nicknamed “Icarus”, the farthest individual star ever seen. — Using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, *astronomers* have discovered an enormous blue star nicknamed “Icarus”, the farthest individual star ever seen.
Image credits: NASA, ESA, and P. Kelly (University of Minnesota)

Nearly 28 years after it was launched, astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered an enormous blue star nicknamed “Icarus”, the farthest individual star ever seen.

“This is the first time we’re seeing a magnified, individual star. You can see individual galaxies out there, but this star is at least 100 times farther away than the next individual star we can study, except for supernova explosions,” explained Patrick Kelly, study leader from University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. The star, harboured in a very distant spiral galaxy, is so far away that its light has taken nine billion years to reach Earth.

The Hubble Space Telescope was named in honour of astronomer Edwin Hubble. Above photograph of the Hubble taken on the fifth servicing mission to the observatory in 2009.
Image credit: NASA

Icarus, whose official name is “MACS J1149+2223 Lensed Star 1”, is only visible because it is being magnified by the gravity of a massive galaxy cluster — located about five billion light-years from Earth. In gravitational lensing, gravity from a foreground, massive cluster of galaxies acts as a natural lens in space, bending and amplifying light.

The discovery of Icarus through a phenomenon called gravitational lensing has initiated a new way for astronomers to study individual stars in distant galaxies. These observations provide a rare, detailed look at how stars evolve, especially the most luminous stars, the U.S. Space agency said.

Detecting the amplification of a single, pinpoint background star provided a unique opportunity to test the nature of dark matter in the cluster. Dark matter is an invisible material that makes up most of the universe’s mass.

Star hunting began in 2014 when astronomers were using Hubble to study a galaxy cluster. Above NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captures glittering crowded hub of our Milky Way galaxy. — Star hunting began in 2014 when astronomers were using Hubble to study a galaxy cluster. *Above NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope* captures glittering crowded hub of our Milky Way galaxy.
Image credits: NASA, ESA, and T. Brown (STScI)

Star hunting began in 2014 when astronomers were using Hubble to study a galaxy cluster. In 2016, the astronomers were observing the cluster when they noticed a new point of light had appeared. But now when NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is launched, astronomers expect to find many more stars like Icarus. “Webb’s extraordinary sensitivity will allow measurement of even more details, including whether these distant stars are rotating. Such magnified stars may even be found to be fairly common,” NASA noted.

For those unaware, The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency).

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