Hubble Telescope Spots Earendel, the Most Distant Star on Record

This detailed view highlights the star Earendel's position along a ripple in space-time (dotted line) that magnifies it and makes it possible for the star to be detected over such a great distance-nearly 13 billion light-years. Also indicated is a cluster of stars that is mirrored on either side of the line of magnification. The distortion and magnification are created by the mass of a huge galaxy cluster located in between Hubble and Earendel. (NASA, ESA, Brian Welch (JHU), Dan Coe (STScI); Image processing: NASA, ESA, Alyssa Pagan (STScI)/Handout via Reuters)

WASHINGTON—Using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, scientists have discovered the most distant individual star on record, a bright behemoth they nicknamed Earendel—Old English for “morning star”—because it existed during the dawn of the universe.

Researchers said the star, very hot and blue in color, was estimated at 50 to 100 times the mass of our sun, while being millions of times brighter. Its light traveled for 12.9 billion years before reaching Earth, meaning that the star existed when the universe was just 7 percent of its current age.