Cosmology field of study suggest that the first stars did not appear until100 million year after the Big Bang . Scientists have recently discovered stars at the center of the coltsfoot that they think are not only more ancient than the approximately 13.2 - billion - twelvemonth - old Milky Way , but may be among the erstwhile aim ever light upon .
Documented in aNaturearticlepublished before this week , the discovery was made by a team of astronomers using the Australian National UniversitySkyMapper telescope . The team included ANU Ph.D. studentLouise Howes , who explicate in the video above that the lack of metallic element in the standard atmosphere of the stars is one reason they distrust the stars are very old . The early universe was frame of hydrogen , He , and small amounts of lithium ; all other elements were created by and by in the supernova explosions of sensation .
" We expected them to be lack in metals , but we also chance that they were lacking in elements such as carbon and Mg , " Howes says . Those element would have add up from " pollution " do by sure-enough exploded mavin . Because these stars miss those element , they appear to be quite ancient . " The relatively humble stars , for some grounds , had 10 times the amount of energy that we would require , and explode in what we call a ' hypernova , ' " she said . The hypernova would have released a set of other elements , like branding iron and nickel , but not much carbon or magnesium .
Their propinquity to the centre of the galaxy was another clue , because it ’s think the first sensation formed at the galaxy center , where the consequence of gravity are the strongest .
" The chemical signature imprinted on those star tells us about an date of reference in the universe that ’s otherwise entirely inaccessible , " said study co - generator Andrew Casey , of Cambridge University ’s Institute of Astronomy , in apress affirmation . " The macrocosm was probably very unlike early on , but to hump by how much , we ’ve really just bring to ascertain more of these stars : more needles in great haystack . "
