Astronomers have used the Hubble Space Telescope to capture light from what appears to be the most distant single star ever seen.
Because light takes time to travel through space, scientists see this star as it appeared when its light began its journey 12.9 billion years ago — just 900 million years after the Big Bang that started the universe.
The find, described in the journal Nature, is unusual because most of the light that scientists have spotted from the early days of the universe has come from galaxies that contain many stars and look like little blobs.
Read this story now for free
To continue reading, sign up for our newsletter and get unlimited access to WABE.org
You can select your preferences for news and local content. We will never share your email address. Learn how your newsletter sign-up will support WABE and Public Media