Using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have observed three distant gas clouds whose chemical composition matches that expected after the first star explosions. The first stars in the universe consisted solely of nature's lightest elements, helium and hydrogen. Astronomers believe that these stars were tens or hundreds of times more massive than our own star, the sun.
Understanding stars in our own galaxy
When the first stars became supernovae, they mixed with heavier elements in the universe, from which new stars were created. These "second-generation" stars, in turn, spread heavier elements when they died. ESO's new discovery could also lead to a greater understanding of stars in our own galaxy, as ESO writes:"This particular chemical composition has also been observed in many old stars in our own galaxy, which astronomers believe to be second-generation stars formed from the 'ashes' of the first stars. This new study has found just that ash, and therefore complements the understanding with an additional puzzle piece."Above is an illustration of how a distant gas cloud with different elements could look in the form of representations of different types of atoms. Below is a video clip where ESO tells a little more about its latest discovery.
eso.org
Science,
European Southern Observatory,
Very Large Telescope,
first stars
37.0°
0Wille Wilhelmsson
ons. 3 maj 2023, 14:00
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