Current Affairs - Science - Discussion

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered 'Icarus'. The star has been named Icarus after the Greek mythological character who flew very close to the Sun with wings of feathers and wax that melted. Official name of Icarus is MACS J1149+2223 Lensed Star 1. It is a huge blue stellar body. Its light has taken nine billion years to reach Earth. Astronomers found Icarus through a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. Gravitational lensing amplifies the glow of the star to a great extent. Generally gravitational lensing occurs when gravitational forces from cluster of galaxies act as natural lens in space, which bends and amplifies light.