Astronomers using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have identified 104 magnified stellar events in the distant Dragon Galaxy. This more than doubles the previous record and provides a potentially important new way to investigate the mysterious nature of dark matter.

Located approximately 6.5 billion light-years from Earth, the galaxy is visible because the immense gravitational pull of a foreground galaxy cluster bends and magnifies its light, allowing astronomers to study individual stars that otherwise would be too faint to detect.

The findings, led by astronomer José María Palencia of the Institute of Physics of Cantabria, were published Sept. 30, 2026, in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Researchers analyzed observations collected by JWST between 2022 and 2024, identifying 104 unique stellar events in what astronomers call the Dragon arc.

The discovery represents a substantial increase over the previous record of 44 magnified stellar events in the same galaxy.

A discovery nearly four decades in the making

The Dragon Galaxy has a much longer observational history than the recent JWST findings might suggest. Its distinctive arc was first identified in September 1985 by French astronomers examining images of Abell 370, a massive galaxy cluster located approximately 4 billion light-years from Earth.

At the time, the unusual streak of light was a mystery. Astronomers eventually obtained spectroscopic observations that established its identity as a distant background galaxy whose light was being distorted by the foreground cluster. That confirmation was announced by the European Southern Observatory in November 1987.

The phenomenon is known as gravitational lensing, a prediction of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. Gravity bends the path of light traveling through space, and an enormous concentration of mass, such as a galaxy cluster, can act like a natural telescope.

The Dragon arc is particularly interesting because the cluster's gravitational field stretches and magnifies the background galaxy. Its redshift of approximately 0.725 means astronomers are observing light that has traveled across billions of years of cosmic history.

How individual stars become visible

The new study focuses on a phenomenon called a caustic crossing event. As individual stars in the distant galaxy move relative to the foreground gravitational lens, they can cross regions where gravitational magnification becomes exceptionally strong.

These regions, known as caustics, can temporarily increase a star's apparent brightness by hundreds or even thousands of times.

At the peak of an event, two gravitationally lensed images of the star merge, producing a dramatic increase in brightness. The star subsequently fades as the event passes, sometimes over a period of days or weeks.

The research team compared JWST images taken at different times, looking for temporary changes in brightness. Scientists also corrected for differences in image orientation, removed unrelated bright objects and accounted for instrumental noise to distinguish genuine stellar events from false detections.

After combining repeated observations across different filters and observation periods, the researchers identified 104 distinct candidates.

Blue and red supergiants reveal stellar history

The observations also offer a glimpse into the Dragon Galaxy's stellar population.

The researchers examined the colors of the magnified objects to distinguish between blue and red supergiants. Blue supergiants are extremely hot, luminous stars that emit much of their energy at shorter wavelengths. Red supergiants are cooler, larger stars that emit more strongly at infrared wavelengths.

The analysis indicated approximately equal numbers of blue and red supergiant candidates, producing a blue-to-red ratio of about 1.

That balance suggests the galaxy has a relatively evolved stellar population that continues to form stars. The relative abundance of these stellar types can help astronomers understand the galaxy's age, chemical composition and history of star formation.

A possible clue to the nature of dark matter

Perhaps the most intriguing implication involves dark matter, the invisible substance believed to account for a substantial portion of the universe's mass.

Dark matter cannot be observed directly through ordinary light, but its gravitational influence affects galaxies, galaxy clusters and the paths of light traveling through space.

The researchers investigated whether the distribution of stellar events around the galaxy cluster's critical curve could provide clues about the small-scale structure of dark matter.

They found an asymmetry in the number of detected events near opposite sides of the critical curve. Farther away from the curve, the counts appeared more balanced. Closer to it, however, the number of events declined on one side while remaining relatively unchanged on the other.

The pattern was consistent with a proposed model known as fuzzy dark matter.

Unlike conventional models that treat dark matter as effectively particle-like on these scales, fuzzy dark matter proposes that extremely light particles exhibit important wave-like quantum properties. Those properties could produce variations in the distribution of matter and influence gravitational lensing.

The researchers cautioned that the observed asymmetry does not establish the existence of fuzzy dark matter. An incorrectly positioned critical curve in the gravitational lens model could also explain the results.

A new tool for studying the universe

The discovery demonstrates how repeated observations with JWST can turn rare gravitational microlensing events into a useful statistical tool.

By expanding the number of identifiable stellar events in a single distant galaxy, astronomers can investigate massive stars, refine gravitational lens models and explore competing explanations for dark matter.

Researchers say applying the same techniques to other gravitationally lensed galaxies, combined with more frequent observations and improved models of galaxy clusters, could produce additional insights.

For astronomers, the Dragon Galaxy is becoming more than an extraordinary example of gravitational lensing. It is also a laboratory for investigating the lives of distant stars and potentially uncovering new evidence about one of the universe's greatest mysteries: the true nature of dark matter.