The Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful observatory in space, captured a unique image that revealed 44 individual stars in a galaxy 6.5 billion light-years away.. This is the largest number of individual stars ever discovered in the distant Universe. The study was published in the journal Nature Astronomy, writes Forbes.

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Astronomers used the Webb telescope to capture a unique image of a distant galaxy dubbed " In reality, this galaxy looks different, but the gravity of the galaxy cluster Abell 370 distorted the light of this object so that it began to look like an arc.

In this galaxy, astronomers immediately discovered 44 new individual stars, which is an absolute record for such observations.. Never before have scientists been able to see dozens of separate stars in such a distant part of the Universe.

New stars were discovered using a method known as gravitational lensing. When light from very distant galaxies passes through a galaxy cluster closer to us, the gravity of the latter greatly distorts this light. As a result, distant galaxies may appear as rings or arcs. To put it simply, gravitational lensing is like astronomers using a giant magnifying glass to see a very distant galaxy.. In this case, Abell 370's gravity not only distorted the light from the Arc of the Dragon, but also amplified it, making it visible.

But most importantly, astronomers were able to discern the light of 44 individual stars in a distant part of the Universe. Previously, the Hubble Space Telescope was able to see a maximum of 7 individual stars in a distant galaxy.

Seeing individual stars at a distance of billions of light years is a very difficult task, because they mostly appear as blurry spots and are difficult to distinguish from each other.

Astronomers have found that most of the discovered stars are red supergiants, similar, for example, to the star Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion. These stars are in the final stages of their lives and are about to explode in a supernova..

According to the study's authors, this discovery shows that detecting and studying a large number of individual stars is possible..

The historic discovery of the Webb telescope will also allow astronomers to further explore one of the greatest mysteries of the Universe, that is, dark matter.. Scientists say observing more individual stars will help better understand the nature of dark matter in the lensed plane of distant galaxies.

Dark matter is what astronomers call an invisible form of matter that helps galaxies grow and evolve. It is believed that 85% of all matter in the Universe is dark matter..

As Focus already wrote, the ESA spacecraft will soon see something on Mercury that has not been seen before. The BepiColombo spacecraft will make its sixth and final flyby of Mercury, during which it will be very close to the surface of the small planet.

Focus also wrote that astronomers have figured out how Pluto captured its largest moon Charon. As the study showed, a very interesting and unusual event occurred.