Astronomers Found One Of The Most Oldest Stars In The Milky Way Galaxy Or Possibly In The Universe.
One of the universe's oldest stars was found on November 5, 2018, in the Milky Way, near Earth. It gives scientists clues about the early universe and the first stars.
Scientists discovered a binary system 1,950 light-years away in the constellation Ara, named 2MASS J18082002–5104378 (J1808−5104). It's a secondary star and may be one of the oldest in the universe.
The primary and bigger star in it is a subgiant star. It is cooler than the Sun but is 5.3 times brighter. It is also slightly bigger than our Sun. Its solar radius is up to 2.44 times.
The system’s second star, a red dwarf with just 10% of our Sun's mass, sits near the hydrogen-burning limit; any less mass and it couldn't sustain core hydrogen fusion.
With an estimated age of 13.53 billion years, this low-metallicity star is nearly as old as the 13.8-billion-year universe, making it a rare find among early Population III stars.
With its small size and low metallicity, 2MASS J18082002–5104378 B mirrors the universe’s early, Big Bang-born material, untouched by the heavier elements of later star generations.
Searching for stars as ancient as this one is rare, like finding a needle in a haystack. Yet, with data from telescopes, we're closer than ever to understanding early star formation.