Earendel：早期宇宙中的一颗恒星
(原标题: Earendel: A Star in the Early Universe)
2022-04-06
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埃伦德尔是迄今为止发现的最远的恒星吗？当哈勃太空望远镜观测到一个巨大的星系团时，这种科学上的可能性就开始了。这个星团的引力透镜效应被认为放大和扭曲了远处背景中的一个星系。这个扭曲的背景星系——如此遥远，它的红移为6.2——在特色图像中表现为一条长长的红色弦，而弦上的珠子很可能是星团。星系团透镜创造了一条最大放大线，其中叠加的背景物体可能被放大了数千倍。在星系线和最大放大线之间的交叉处有一个“头”，它显示了早期宇宙中一颗明亮恒星的起源证据——现在被命名为Earendel。未来的调查可能包括哈勃望远镜的更多成像，以了解Earendel的亮度是如何变化的，而且很可能是由今年晚些时候投入使用的新型詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜进行的。Earendel的巨大距离超过了任何已知的稳定恒星，尽管爆炸产生GRB 090423的恒星的红移为8.2。
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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.