A group of astronomy students from the University of Chicago made a remarkable discovery during a recent field trip to the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. While observing 77 selected stars, the students identified a remarkably "pristine" star named SDSS J0715−7334 on their first night. This star exhibits an exceptionally low metal content, measuring only about 0.005% of what is typically found in the Sun. Such a unique chemical makeup indicates that it is among the oldest stars known to exist. It is believed to have formed shortly after the Big Bang, which occurred over 13 billion years ago, at a time when the universe contained very few heavy elements. Furthermore, the students tracked the star's trajectory and discovered that it originated from the Large Magellanic Cloud and journeyed into the Milky Way billions of years ago. "This ancient immigrant offers us an invaluable glimpse into the conditions of the early universe," stated their instructor, Professor Alex Ji.
Informational material. 18+.
