Redshift

Galaxy

Magnification

Astrophysics

Computer science

Galaxy cluster

Gravitational lens

Physics

Lens (geology)

Cluster (spacecraft)

Optics

Astronomy

Programming language

Gravitational microlensing

Dark matter

Stars

Star (game theory)

Nature Astronomy

Galaxy-cluster gravitational lenses can magnify background galaxies by a total factor of up to ~50. Here we report an image of an individual star at redshift z = 1.49 (dubbed MACS J1149 Lensed Star 1) magnified by more than ×2,000. A separate image, detected briefly 0.26″ from Lensed Star 1, is probably a counterimage of the first star demagnified for multiple years by an object of ≳3 solar masses in the cluster. For reasonable assumptions about the lensing system, microlensing fluctuations in the stars’ light curves can yield evidence about the mass function of intracluster stars and compact objects, including binary fractions and specific stellar evolution and supernova models. Dark-matter subhaloes or massive compact objects may help to account for the two images’ long-term brightness ratio. An individual star at z = 1.49 is gravitationally lensed and highly magnified by a foreground galaxy cluster. Fluctuations in the star’s emission provide insight on the mass function of intracluster stars, compact objects and the presence of dark-matter subhaloes.

Extreme magnification of an individual star at redshift 1.5 by a galaxy-cluster lens