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Astronomers discover the most distant star in the Milky Way galaxy

Astronomy is expanding far and beyond Earth’s orbit as science advances, and researchers have now discovered the Milky Way galaxy’s most distant star. In the stellar halo of the galaxy, more than 200 of these far-off variable stars known as RR Lyrae stars have been found.

Old stars called RR Lyrae have highly particular physical characteristics that cause them to grow and contract in a cycle that occurs repeatedly. An RR Lyrae star can be recognised by its distinctive pulsations, and the distance to it can be calculated using the star’s apparent brightness.

The stellar halo is a representation of the Milky Way’s outermost regions, and the stars in it are farther away from Earth than any other stars in our galaxy, reaching almost halfway to Andromeda.

The most distant star of the galaxy is about a million light-years from Earth, which means the light that leaves the sun today will reach this star a million years later.

The Andromeda galaxy, the closest galaxy to Earth, is about 2.5 million light-years away.

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