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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 28, 2025

Demonstration of a Hyperlens-integrated Microscope and Super-resolution Imaging

Demonstration of a Hyperlens-integrated Microscope and Super-resolution Imaging

Published on: September 8, 2017

A highly magnified star at redshift 6.2.

Brian Welch¹, Dan Coe^2,3,4, Jose M Diego⁵

¹Center for Astrophysical Sciences, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. bwelch7@jhu.edu.

|March 31, 2022

Summary

Astronomers discovered a distant, magnified star using gravitational lensing by a galaxy cluster. This persistent, highly magnified star offers a unique opportunity to study early universe stellar populations.

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Area of Science:

Cosmology and Astrophysics
Gravitational Lensing
Exoplanet Research

Background:

Galaxy clusters act as powerful gravitational lenses, magnifying background objects.
Strong gravitational lensing can stretch galaxies into arcs and significantly boost the brightness of background sources.
Previous discoveries of lensed stars were at lower redshifts and exhibited temporary microlensing effects.

Purpose of the Study:

To report the discovery and characterization of a distant, persistently magnified star.
To investigate the properties of stars in the early universe through extreme magnification.
To confirm the role of galaxy clusters in enabling the observation of faint, distant objects.

Main Methods:

Utilized gravitational lensing by the galaxy cluster WHL0137-08 to magnify a background star.
Employed four independent lens models to estimate the magnification factor.
Conducted long-term imaging and follow-up observations over 3.5 years to assess brightness constancy.

Main Results:

Discovered a star at redshift 6.2 (900 million years after the Big Bang), magnified by a factor of thousands.
Observed persistent magnification and brightness (AB magnitude 27.2) over 3.5 years, unlike transient microlensed stars.
Calculated a delensed absolute UV magnitude of -10 ± 2, consistent with a massive star (>50 solar masses).

Conclusions:

This discovery demonstrates the potential of gravitational lensing to reveal massive stars in the early universe.
The persistent nature of the magnification provides a stable target for detailed study.
Further observations with the James Webb Space Telescope are expected to confirm spectral classification and properties.