Gravitational lenses have been used previously to resolve individual stars in the distant Universe. Using the microlensing of rogue intracluster stars, a team led by astronomer Yoshinobu Fudamoto of Chiba University in Japan was able to resolve an unprecedented 44 individual stars in the smeared light of the Dragon Arc.

Looking halfway across the observable universe and expecting to see individual stars is considered a non-starter in astronomy, a bit like raising a pair of binoculars at the moon in hopes of making out individual grains of dust inside its craters.

The James Webb Space Telescope captured images of 44 individual stars in a gorgeous portrait of a distant galaxy.

The cosmos is full of secrets waiting to be uncovered, and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) continues to reveal them in breathtaking detail. In a monumental achievement, astronomers have used JWST to detect 44 individual stars in a galaxy located 6.