October 6, 2015

  • Traces of One of Universe's First Stars Detected

    First stars

    The most massive stars in the early universe would eject material high in iron when they exploded. Astronomers can read the composition of the next generation of stars to determine what made up their ancestors.
    Credit: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

    An ancient star in the halo surrounding the Milky Way galaxy appears to contain traces of material released by the death of one of the universe's first stars, a new study reports.

    The chemical signature of the ancient star suggests that it incorporated material blasted into space by a supernova explosion that marked the death of a huge star in the early universe — one that may have been 200 times more massive than the sun.

    "The impact of very-massive stars and their explosions on subsequent star formation and galaxy formation should be significant," lead author Wako Aoki, of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, told Space.com by email. [Top 10 Star Mysteries]

    Click here for the complete article:

Comments (60)

Comments are closed.

Post a Comment