Scientists find one of the most ancient stars that formed in another galaxy

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

The first generation of stars transformed the universe. Inside their cores, simple hydrogen and helium fused into a rainbow of elements. When these stars died, they exploded and sent these new elements across the universe. The iron running in your veins and the calcium in your teeth and the sodium powering your thoughts were all born in the heart of a long-dead star.

No one has been able to find any of those first generation of stars, but scientists have announced a unique finding: a star from the second generation that originally formed in a different galaxy from ours.

"This star provides a unique window into the very early element-forming process in galaxies other than our own," said Anirudh Chiti, a University of Chicago postdoctoral fellow and first author on a paper announcing the findings. "We have built up an idea of the how these stars that were chemically enriched by the first stars look like in the Milky Way, but we don't yet know if some of these signatures are unique, or if things happened similarly across other galaxies."

Leave a Comment