'Largest star group outside the Milky Way': NASA's James Webb Telescope spots 40 ancient stars in Dragon Arc Galaxy

The 44 newly discovered stars were spotted in a wide-field image captured by JWST, highlighting the Dragon Arc galaxy (boxed) and its distorted tail of magnified light. (Image: NASA)

Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to find dozens of ancient stars in a far-off galaxy. These stars were spotted in the Dragon Arc, a galaxy located 6.5 billion light-years away. The discovery has provided a closer look at a distant part of the universe.

The stars were magnified by a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. This occurs when massive objects bend light and magnify distant objects. In this case, light from the Dragon Arc was warped by the gravity of a galaxy cluster called Abell 370. The result is a distorted arc of light, revealing stars never seen before.

Unexpected Star Discovery

Astronomers originally aimed to find a distant galaxy behind the cluster. But when they processed the data, they discovered 44 individual stars. This marks the largest group of stars imaged so far outside our galaxy. Until now, the largest groups seen contained just seven stars.

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The stars are mostly "red supergiants," some of the largest stars in the universe. The team hopes studying these stars will provide insights into how they evolve. Future research will focus on more stars in the Dragon Arc and other distant galaxies. This will help answer questions about galaxy formation and dark matter.

To study stellar populations further, more stars are needed. Researchers will continue observing distant galaxies to uncover more cosmic secrets.

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