Here's a cosmic discovery 9 billion years in the making

EDGE OF THE KNOWN UNIVERSE — Astronomers have sighted the outermost star the in known universe.

Icarus, or LS1, is 9 billion years from Earth. Hubble saw it because of gravitational lensing, where distant star light is bent and magnified via the gravity of a passing galaxy. What was sighted came from a time when the universe was at 30% of its current age.

The star is believed to be a luminous blue supergiant, similar in size to our sun, but twice as hot. Researchers knew it wasn't a supernova because it wasn't exploding.

Astronomers also tested its cluster for a dark matter theory that posits primordial black holes constituted much of the early universe, according to NASA. That wasn't shown however, as the Hubble telescope would have observed different light patterns from the star if black holes passed in front of Icarus.