JWST Detects 104 Magnified Stellar Events

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has tracked more than 100 magnified stellar events in the Dragon galaxy, located around 6.5 billion light-years away. This discovery more than doubles the previous record of 44 such detections in the same galaxy.

The study, led by José María Palencia of the Institute of Physics of Cantabria, used JWST images collected from 2022 to 2024 to identify 104 magnified stellar events in the Dragon galaxy. The light from the Dragon galaxy is stretched and magnified by a massive galaxy cluster called Abell 370, which creates a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing.

The Dragon galaxy has a redshift of 0.725, and its light is focused by the galaxy cluster, creating caustic crossing events. These events occur when individual stars in the background galaxy drift across microcaustics, creating a brief period of extreme brightness. The detection of these events provides a rare look at the galaxy's stellar population and possibly the presence of dark matter.

The discovery was published in Astronomy & Astrophysics on September 30. The team's findings offer new insights into the properties of the Dragon galaxy and the distribution of dark matter within it.

## Why it matters The detection of magnified stellar events in the Dragon galaxy is significant because it allows astronomers to study the galaxy's stellar population in unprecedented detail. The presence of dark matter, which is thought to make up approximately 27% of the universe's mass-energy density, can also be inferred from these events. The study of dark matter is an active area of research, and the JWST's discovery provides a new window into the properties of this mysterious substance.

The James Webb Space Telescope's ability to detect these events is a testament to its advanced technology and sensitivity. The telescope's observations will continue to provide new insights into the universe, from the formation of stars and galaxies to the properties of dark matter and dark energy.