WHL0137-LS
James Webb Space Telescope image of galaxy cluster WHL0137-08 and Earendel | |
| Observation data Epoch J2000 Equinox J2000 | |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Cetus |
| Right ascension | 01h 37m 23.232s |
| Declination | −08° 27′ 52.20″ |
| Characteristics | |
| Spectral type | B |
| Apparent magnitude (F435W) | 27.2 |
| Variable type | Luminous blue variable |
| Astrometry | |
| Distance | 28 billion ly |
| Details | |
| if a single star | |
| Mass | 20–200 M☉ |
| Radius | 103–393 R☉ |
| Luminosity | 631,000–3,981,000 L☉ |
| Temperature | 13,000–16,000 K |
| if a binary (parameters highly uncertain) | |
| Radius | component 1: 23 R☉ component 2: 184 R☉ |
| Luminosity | component 1: 631,000 L☉ component 2: 200,000 L☉ |
| Temperature | component 1: 34,000 K component 2: 9,000 K |
| Other designations | |
| Earendel | |
WHL0137-LS, also known as Earendel, is a star cluster or a star located in the constellation of Cetus. Discovered in 2022 with the Hubble Space Telescope, it has a comoving distance of 28 billion light-years (8.6 billion parsecs), making it the most distant known star if it is a single object. The previous farthest known star, MACS J1149 Lensed Star 1, also known as Icarus, at a comoving distance of 14.4 billion light-years (4.4 billion parsecs), was discovered by Hubble in 2018. However, further observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in the 2020s revealed that Earendel is more likely a star cluster. Objects like Earendel can be observed at cosmological distances thanks to the large magnification factors afforded by gravitational lensing, which can exceed 1,000. Other candidates stars have been observed through this technique, such as Godzilla, although controversies remain about their true nature.