List of most distant stars

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This is a list of the most distant individually seen stars discovered, a list of the most distant stars that are separately known, resolved as individual stars, or as multiple star systems. It is not a list of sources that should contain stars that are distant but no separate stars within that source are separately known, such as unresolved stars in star clusters, galaxies, galaxy clusters.

Distances to stars may be determined through parallax measurements, use of standard references such as cepheid variables or Type Ia supernovas to the object in which the star resides, or redshift measurement. Spectroscopic redshift measurement is preferred, while photometric redshift measurement is also used to identify candidate high redshift sources. The symbol z represents redshift

Most distant stars

List of most distant individually seen stars
Star Redshift Distance (Mpc) Discovery Notes
WHL0137-LS (Earendel) 6.2±0.1 8,600 2022 The most distant known star as of 2023. Most likely a star cluster.
MACS J0647.7+7015 LS1 4.8 7,830 2023
MACS J0647.7+7015 LS2
Abell 2744 LS1 2.65 6,110 2022
Godzilla 2.38 5,780 2022 The most luminous known star.
Quyllur 2.1878 5,540 2023 First red supergiant at cosmological distances.
Mothra 2.091 5,400 2023 A binary consisting of a yellow supergiant or yellow hypergiant and a Blue supergiant.
MACS J1149 Lensed Star 1 (Icarus) 1.49 4,410 2018 The most distant known star prior to the discovery of Earendel.
Warhol 0.94 3,000 2014 Transient, extremely luminous O-type star or a Large Wolf-Rayet star
[Clarify why the following are among the most distant.]
AT 2022zmn 0.019 84 2022 Luminous blue variable.
AT 2022oku 0.018 79 2022 Luminous blue variable.
AT 2018kle 0.012505 55 2018 Luminous blue variable.
SDSS J1229+1122 0.000127 17
[clarification needed] 		2013 Blue supergiant.

List of most distant stars by type

List of most distant stars by type
Type Star Distance Date Notes Ref.
Most distant, any type Earendel
(WHL0137-LS) 		z=6.2 2022 This star is gravitationally lensed
Most distant cepheid variable P42 130 Mly (40 Mpc) As of 2024 This cepheid is located in galaxy NGC 5468
  • z represents redshift, a measure of recessional velocity and inferred distance due to cosmological expansion
  • mas represents parallax, a measure of angle and distance can be determined through trigonometry
  • pc represents parsec, a measure of distance, the distance that a parallax of an arcsecond corresponds with
  • ly represents lightyear, a measure of distance, the distance that light travels in a year

List of most distant stars by event type

List of most distant stellar events
Type Event Distance Date Notes
Most distant gamma ray burst (GRB) GRB 090423 z=8.2 2009 At the time of discovery, this was the most distant known object found so far.
  • z represents redshift, a measure of recessional velocity and inferred distance due to cosmological expansion
  • mas represents parallax, a measure of angle and distance can be determined through trigonometry
  • pc represents parsec, a measure of distance, the distance that a parallax of an arcsecond corresponds with
  • ly represents lightyear, a measure of distance, the distance that light travels in a year

Timeline of most distant star recordholders

The succession of most distant separately known star


Stars in these lists were found to be the most distant star at the time of determination of their distance. This is frequently not the same as the date of their discovery. [Use consistent units for distances.]

Most distant star titleholders
Star Type Date Distance then
estimated 		Notes Refs.
Earendel
(WHL0137-LS) 		2022– z=6.2 This star is gravitationally lensed
Icarus
(MACS J1149+2223 LS1) 		B-I
(blue supergiant) 		2018−2022 z=1.49 This star is gravitationally lensed
Arcturus
(Alpha Bootis) 		Solitary star 1891−1910 160 ly
(18 mas)
(this was very inaccurate, true=37 ly) 		This number is wrong; originally announced in 1891, the figure was corrected in 1910 to 40 ly (60 mas).
From 1891 to 1910, it had been thought this was the star with the smallest known parallax, hence the most distant star whose distance was known.
Prior to 1891, Arcturus had previously been recorded of having a parallax of 127 mas.
Capella
(Alpha Aurigae) 		Solitary star 1849− 72 ly
(46 mas)
Polaris
(Alpha Ursae Minoris) 		Variable star, solitary star 1847−1849 50 ly
(80 mas)
(this was very inaccurate, true=~375 ly)
Vega
(Alpha Lyrae) 		Star (part of a double star pair) 1839−1847 7.77 pc
(125 mas)
61 Cygni Binary star 1838−1839 3.48 pc
(313.6 mas) 		This was the first star other than the Sun to have its distance measured.
Sun Solitary star 3rd century BC – 1609 380 Earth radii
(very inaccurate, true=16000 Earth radii) 		Aristarchus of Samos made a measurement of the distance of the Sun from the Earth in relation to the distance of the Moon from the Earth.
The distance to the Moon was described in Earth radii (20, also inaccurate).
The diameter of the Earth had been calculated previously.
At the time, it was assumed that some of the planets were further away, but their distances could not be measured.
The order of the planets was conjecture until Kepler determined the distances from the Sun of the five known planets other than Earth.
It had been conjectured that the fixed stars were much farther away than the planets.
  • z represents redshift, a measure of recessional velocity and inferred distance due to cosmological expansion
  • mas represents milliarcseconds of parallax, a measure of angle and distance can be determined through trigonometry
  • pc represents parsec, a measure of distance, the distance that a parallax of an arcsecond corresponds with
  • ly represents lightyear, a measure of distance, the distance that light travels in a year

Timeline of most distant star outburst recordholders

The succession of most distant separately known star explosion


Stars in these lists were found to be the most distant star at the time of determination of their distance. This is frequently not the same as the date of their discovery. These stars are known by having a singular event occur at the star, such as a supernova.

Most Distant Star Outburst Titleholders
Event Type Date Distance Notes
GRB 090423 Gamma-ray burst 2009– z=8.2 At the time of discovery, this was the most distant known object found so far.
SN 1988U Supernova 1988– z=0.31 Located in the galaxy cluster AC118
  • z represents redshift, a measure of recessional velocity and inferred distance due to cosmological expansion
  • mas represents parallax, a measure of angle and distance can be determined through trigonometry
  • pc represents parsec, a measure of distance, the distance that a parallax of an arcsecond corresponds with
  • ly represents lightyear, a measure of distance, the distance that light travels in a year

See also

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