A group of physicists at Durham University in the United Kingdom have identified over 44 previously unknown stars that were hidden behind a cluster of galaxies.
The newly discovered constellation of stars are located in a galaxy named Dragon Arc, nearly 6.5 billion light-years away from Earth.
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The Dragon Arc galaxy was unnoticed so far since it is located behind another cluster of galaxies called Abell 370.
Scientists were able to identify the stars, thanks to magnified images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) jointly developed by NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the European Space Agency.
The images show how the stars looked during “cosmic noon,” a period of the universe when the most number of stars were born.
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The discovery was made owing to a scientific phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, which is when a large celestial body bends and magnifies light. The Abell 370 cluster was so large that it stretched and magnified the light coming from the Dragon Arc galaxy behind it.
According to the physicists, the effect works like a “hall of mirrors of cosmic proportions.”
Why it matters
This is the first time so many individual stars have been discovered or observed at such a distance. The discovery is expected to help other scientists further understand how stars are born.
“This very particular type of star we have detected in the Dragon Arc, called red supergiants, are very difficult to observe because they are surrounded by a lot of dust and this dust basically makes them invisible to standard instruments,” Dr Mathilde Jauzac, who led the Durham team along with Dr David Lagattuta, was quoted as saying by the BBC.
“Being able to observe the stars at this epoch would give us a lot of clues about their role, what they are doing and how they enriched the universe at that time,” she said.
The discovery was made owing to a scientific phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz, and the HFF team) 
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