How Far Is the Farthest Star (not galaxy) that We Human Beings Have Seen?

I'm not sure of the answer to my question. But I can report a report that a supernova at a distance of five billion light years has been observed. See NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 16, 2007.

Another way of expressing this distance: 186,282 x 60 x 60 x 24 x 365.25 x 5,000,000,000 = approximate number of miles; alternative: 5,878,625,373,183 x 5,000,000,000; alternative: very roughly (slight exaggeration): 30,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles

This supernova is so bright that it can be seen with a small telescope.

Is the structure of the brain more majestic than the structure of the universe? Or are these two structures equally majestic -- and, indeed, will knowledge of one eventually require and entail knowledge of the other -- or, indeed, is such conjoint knowledge of the macrocosmic and the microcosmic already at work?