Astronomers publish star SDSS J0715-7334 with under 0.005% metals
Astronomers have found what might be the most untouched star ever spotted, offering a rare look at how things were in the first several billion years after the Big Bang.
Named SDSS J0715-7334, this star is about 80,000 light-years away and was published in Nature Astronomy.
It's so pure that it has less than 0.005% of the metals found in our Sun, a real cosmic time capsule.
Pristine star informs early star formation
Because SDSS J0715-7334 is almost metal-free, scientists think it formed when the universe was brand new and cosmic dust was scarce.
This helps researchers figure out how giant stars from the early universe gave way to smaller ones like our Sun.
As lead author Alexander Ji, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago, puts it, "These pristine stars are windows into the dawn of stars and galaxies in the universe."