In the archives of NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, the designation refers to a significant cosmic milestone: the discovery of Earendel , the farthest individual star ever seen . Here is the story behind that file: The Morning Star of the Universe
The name Earendel comes from an Old English word meaning "morning star" or "rising light." When the Hubble Space Telescope looked toward a massive galaxy cluster named WHL0137-08, it wasn't just looking at stars; it was looking back across of time. A Cosmic Trick of Light
If you are interested in seeing the visualization of this "morning star," you can find the high-resolution media on the NASA Scientific Visualization Studio page. 14125mp4
: Because it is so ancient, studying Earendel gives scientists a rare window into the "cosmic dawn"—the era when the very first stars were forming from primordial gases.
: Earendel is estimated to be at least 50 times the mass of our Sun and millions of times as bright. In the archives of NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio,
: The light Hubble captured left the star when the universe was only 7% of its current age.
Under normal circumstances, even our most powerful telescopes couldn't see a single star at such a staggering distance. However, a phenomenon called acted like a natural magnifying glass. The gravity of the foreground galaxy cluster warped and amplified the light of Earendel by thousands of times, stretching it into a long, thin crescent that astronomers nicknamed the "Sunrise Arc." The Significance of 14125 : Because it is so ancient, studying Earendel
The video produced under the ID 14125 documents this record-breaking moment. It shows: