Astronomers discover the “fingerprints” of the universe’s first stars | Sciences

On Wednesday (3), scientists revealed the discovery of “fingerprints” left by the explosion of the first stars in the universe. (See artist submission above).

This unprecedented discovery is the result of observations made by the VLT (Very Large Telescope) telescope array located in Chile.

According to the researchers, three clouds of gas were discovered, the chemical composition of which corresponds to what would be expected from the first stellar explosions.

Use Quasarsan extremely bright light source powered by supermassive black holes at the hearts of distant galaxies, researchers were able to detect and study these distant clouds.

This is possible because as the light from a quasar travels through space, it passes through clouds of gas where various chemical elements leave an imprint.

Still, because each element leaves a different set of “lines” in the process, scientists can find and discern these clues, analyzing what’s called the electromagnetic spectrum, made up of the radio waves, microwaves and light we see every day.

And those primordial stars, which scientists believe are tens or hundreds of times more massive than our sun, died quickly in powerful explosions in the early universe.

To get an idea, “soon after” (on an astronomical scale) Big Bang, these stars were very different from the stars we see today. When they first appeared, 13.5 billion years ago, these stars contained only hydrogen and helium, the simplest chemical elements found in nature.

Therefore, scientists’ new discovery promises to bring new horizons to the observation of these stars.

The European Southern Observatory, for example, which is responsible for the VLT, has more ambitious plans for the next generation of telescopes and instruments, such as the futuristic Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), a powerful facility being built about 20 km from the VLT.

“[Com esse telescópio] We will be able to study many of these rare gas clouds in extreme detail, and finally be able to unravel the mysterious nature of primordial stars,” added Valentina Dodorico, a researcher at the National Institute of Astrophysics, in Italy, and co-author of the study book.