In a Galaxy Far, Far Away

In a galaxy far, far away...

The most distant star ever detected - Earendel! 

An old English name for "morning star or rising light." It's also the name of a half-elven character in Tolkien's book, The Silmarillion. He traveled the skies with a shiny jewel that appeared as bright as a star.

It's estimated this star dates back to 900 million years after the Big Bang. And because the universe is still expanding, it's also estimated that it's 28 billion light-years from us.

Both Hubble and the new James Webb Space Telescope(JWST) teamed up for this discovery. JWST will also perform spectral analysis to determine the chemical composition of Earendel and its surrounding Galaxy, named "The Sunrise Arc." 

(JWST captured this image of Galaxy Cluster, WHLO 137-08, which contains the Sunrise Arc Galaxy that looks like a red streak below the diffraction spike at 5:00 o'clock position)

Astronomers are hopeful that JWST will help us detect the first generation of stars - Stay tuned

Meanwhile,

Full Moon on the night after Christmas; 26th