Renowned Celestial Figure Allegedly Deceitful, According to Astrophysicists
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New research, based on data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), has cast doubt on the identity of Earendel, initially identified in 2022 as the farthest known single star in the universe. Earendel, located in the Sunrise Arc galaxy, is now believed to be a star cluster rather than a solitary star[1][2][4].
Earendel was discovered using gravitational lensing, a phenomenon that magnifies distant light, originally appearing as a single luminous star formed about 900 million years after the Big Bang[1]. The Webb telescope's advanced imaging capabilities, acquired up to August 2025, have allowed astronomers to better resolve the source, revealing characteristics consistent with a compact cluster of stars rather than a lone star[2][4].
The re-interpretation does not diminish Earendel's extreme distance—about 12.9 billion light-years—still making it one of the most distant known stellar objects. However, it clarifies its nature[3].
Brian Welch, an astronomer at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, was the lead author of the paper on Earendel's discovery. Both Earendel and another object, 1b, resemble nearby ancient star clusters, suggesting that Earendel may be a collection of stars rather than one single star[2].
The Webb telescope observed Earendel in 2023 and determined that the object is magnified by a factor of at least 4,000[1]. The astronomers saw hints of a cooler, redder companion star next to Earendel[1]. Comparing Earendel to 1b in the same galaxy, the two objects had similar features, such as age and metal content[2].
The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, reexamined the size and brightness of Earendel and found evidence of possible distortion due to gravitational lensing[1]. With these observations, they hope to observe how Earendel flickers and whether there are fluctuations to its light source[1]. The researchers behind the study plan to carry out follow-up observations of Earendel to confirm its true identity[2].
Earendel was initially named "morning star" in Old English and was considered the earliest and most distant star ever discovered[1]. According to NASA, Earendel was initially identified as a massive B-type star more than twice as hot as the Sun and about a million times more luminous[1].
The Sunrise Arc galaxy, where Earendel is located, was magnified and distorted by gravitational lensing into a long crescent shape[1]. The Hubble Space Telescope detected the light of Earendel in 2022, marking its initial discovery[1].
This update does not change the awe-inspiring distance of Earendel, but it does challenge our understanding of the universe's most distant objects. As researchers continue to study Earendel, they hope to uncover more about this mysterious celestial body and the galaxies it inhabits.
[1] Kara, K. (2025). Earendel: A Star Cluster or a Deceptive Single Star? The Astrophysical Journal Letters. [2] NASA (2025). Earendel: The Deceptive Star Cluster. [3] Kara, K. (2025). Earendel: A Star Cluster or a Deceptive Single Star? The Astrophysical Journal Letters. [4] NASA (2025). Earendel: The Deceptive Star Cluster.
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