The Very First Stars at the End of the Universe's 'Dark Ages' Spotted by Astronomers

First Posted: May 29, 2015 07:57 AM EDT

Scientists may have discovered some of the earliest stars from the formation of the universe. These so-called "cosmic Methusalems" are about 13 billion years old and belong to the first generations of stars after the "dark ages."

The universe emerged about 13.8 billion years ago through the big bang. The initially extremely hot gas of the "explosion cloud" expanded and grew colder and colder. Because the universe was completely empty of stars at the time, scientists refer to this period as the "dark ages" of the universe.

About 400 million years after the Big Bang, the first stars formed out of the gases created by the explosion. Due to the chemical composition of the initial gases, the stars' mass must have been 10 to 100 times greater than that of the sun. This means that they must have shone brilliantly in the early universe. That said, these stars rapidly exhausted their nuclear fuel and only shone for a few million years. When they expired in gigantic explosions, chemical elements were released to create new stars.

The new stars, three in total, were discovered thanks to observations at the Paris observatory. These stars contain hydrogen, helium and only extremely small quantities of other chemical elements, including a striking amount of carbon. In fact, the astronomers believe that these stars belong to a special and completely new class of original stars.

Carbon actually played a major role in the early universe as a "coolant" contributing to the contraction of interstellar gas into a star. The better the cooling, the smaller the stars that can form.

The findings reveal a bit more about the events surrounding the creation of the very first stars. This, in turn, tells scientists a bit more about the early universe.

The findings are published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

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TagsUniverse, Stars, star, Big Bang