The Sunrise Arc Galaxy With Lensed Star Earendel
The star nicknamed Earendel (indicated with arrow) is positioned along a ripple in spacetime that gives it extreme magnification, allowing it to emerge into view from its host galaxy, which appears as a red smear across the sky. The whole scene is viewed through the distorted lens created by a massive galaxy cluster in the intervening space, which allows the galaxy's features to be seen, but also warps their appearance—an effect astronomers call gravitational lensing. The red dots on either side of Earendel are one star cluster that is mirrored on either side of the ripple, a result of the gravitational lensing distortion. The entire galaxy, called the Sunrise Arc, appears three times, and knots along its length are more mirrored star clusters. Earendel's unique position right along the line of most extreme magnification allows it to be detected, even though it is not a cluster.
Credits
Science
NASA, ESA, Brian Welch (JHU), Dan Coe (STScI)
Image Processing
NASA, ESA, Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | WHL-J24.3324-8.477, Earendel |
| Object Description | Distant star |
| R.A. Position | 01:37:23.23 |
| Dec. Position | -08:27:52.20 |
| Constellation | Cetus |
| Distance | The star is approximately 12.9 billion light-years away. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | This Hubble image was created from HST data from proposals: 14096 () and 15842 (). |
| Instrument | ACS/WFC, WFC3/IR |
| Exposure Dates | 7 June 2016, 17July 2016, 4 November 2019, and 27 November 2019 |
| Filters | F814W, F105W, F110W, F160W |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the ACS/WFC and the WFC3/IR instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample narrow and wide wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F814W Green: F105W Red: F110W + F160W |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
