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The Star That Exploded At the Dawn of Time

Posted by samzenpus on from the in-the-beginning dept.

sciencehabit writes To probe the dawn of time, astronomers usually peer far away; but now they've made a notable discovery close to home. An ancient star a mere thousand light-years from Earth bears chemical elements that may have been forged by the death of a star that was both extremely massive and one of the first to arise after the big bang. If confirmed, the finding means that some of the universe's first stars were so massive they died in exceptionally violent explosions that altered the growth of early galaxies.

3 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. Why can't hydrogen cool? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From TFA:

    The big bang produced only hydrogen, helium, and a little lithium, and gas clouds containing only these elements can't cool.

    Can someone please explain this? What would prevent a cloud of primordial elements from cooling?

    1. Re:Why can't hydrogen cool? by mmell · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It can - now. Back then, where would the heat go . . . out of the Universe?

  2. I took this for granted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Big Bang -> a few ridiculously massive stars -> a few little Bangs -> many massive stars -> many hypernovae -> many many large stars -> many many supernovae -> ... -> ... -> Michael Bay

    It's explosions all the way down.