The Chinese research expert has collected the first evidence of the life and death of the oldest stars in the universe.
This team of astronomers has found the unique chemical fingerprints of stars in the Milky Way’s halo, using the synergy of two of the largest ground-based telescopes in the world.
The first stars could have 260 times the mass of the Sun.
The first stars could have 260 times the mass of the Sun. (Artwork: Shutterstock)
To use Large Region of Sky Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) in China and the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, images show that the first stars could be 260 times the mass of the Sun.
Their study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, also provides the first observational evidence that stars ended their lives in an unusual explosion, quite different from the supernova explosions we experience today.
Theoretical physicist Avi Loeb of Harvard University, who was not involved in the research, hailed the discovery as “extremely important for validating our theory of the first generation of stars.”
Mr. LoeƄ stated that the 1st generation star is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in the universe. Scientists predict that they formed from primordial gas after the Big Bang and were composed of only hydrogen and helium.
Astronomical theory also suggests that these ancient celestial bodies may have masses equivalent to hundreds of suns and experience a single local explosion when they die.
First-generation stars are short-lived and difficult to detect, leaving only a chemical signature in the next generation of stars.
Dr. Zhuo Gang of the National Astronomical Observatory of China and his colleagues sifted through the spectra of more than five million stars collected by LAMOST.
The information included chemical composition, temperature, brightness and other key properties that the scientists compared until they found a candidate, which they named. LAMOST J1010+2358.
This star lies about 3,300 light-years from Earth in the galactic halo and contains very little metal. The team compared the star’s spectrum with theoretical models and concluded that it most likely formed in a cluster of nebulae left behind by a first-generation star with a mass equivalent to 260 suns.
Mr LoeƄ explained that, unlike stellar explosions in the later universe, when they collapsed into neutron stars or black holes, the explosion of the parent star LAMOST J1010+2358 involved the creation of electrons and their antimatter positrons.
Source of the article: Public opinion
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The Chinese research expert has collected the first evidence of the life and death of the oldest stars in the universe.
