The most distant, and therefore the oldest, star in the Universe ever seen by astronomers, as recently revealed by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is likely to be paired with a seemingly invisible companion. Data show that there is a small red star next to the massive Earendel.

This is reported by Inverse. Earendel is located at a distance of more than 12 billion light years from Earth in a galaxy called the Sunrise Arc. This means that its radiance, recently detected by JWST, left the distant galaxy in the first billion years after the Big Bang.

In its first year of operation, JWST has discovered many extremely distant galaxies, but with all its power, the NASA telescope is unable to distinguish galaxies that are at great distances. Very distant galaxies look like rounded blobs of light to it.

Earendel is the most distant star that astronomers have ever been able to identify. It is part of one of the most distant galaxies that astronomers have ever been able to see in detail - the Sunrise Arc.

The Hubble Space Telescope was the first to spot the distant star. In its lens, it was a bright point of light in a distant galaxy, the image of which was magnified four thousand times when its light passed through the gravitational lens of a massive cluster of galaxies.

Now the JWST Infrared Camera (NIRCam) has revealed more details about this bright and distant star.

Earendel is a brilliant blue star that is several times more massive than our Sun. It is also twice as hot and, according to scientists, more than a million times brighter.

Earendel is a brilliant blue star that is several times more massive than our Sun. It is also twice as hot and, according to scientists, more than a million times brighter.

Scientists suggest that Earendel, like many massive stars closer to us that have already been studied by astronomers, may be part of a binary star system. They believe that Earendel and its companion orbit a common centre of gravity.

At the same time, Earendel is a massive star, and its companion star is much smaller, so astronomers guessed about its existence, but did not fully believe that they could detect its signs.

"Astronomers did not expect JWST to detect Earendel's companions because they would be very close together and indistinct in the sky. However, based solely on Earendel's colours, astronomers believe they are seeing hints of a colder, redder companion star," NASA said in a statement.

Light from the distant galaxy Sunrise Arc passes through a massive cluster of galaxies called WHL0137-08 on its way to Earth. The gravity of this cluster distorts space-time around it, causing light to follow a curved path, as if passing through a lens. As a result, the Sunrise Arc appears to be stretched into a thin arc.

Earlier, OBOZREVATEL also reported that astronomers have recently discovered a special star system that could provide the first ever evidence of the existence of an elusive dark matter star.

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