Images and Videos: PROGRAM/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, S. Brunier/Digitized Sky Survey 2, E. Slawik, J. Pollard
Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF NOIRLab)
Music: Stellardrone - Airglow

Cosmoview Episode 53: Potential First Traces of the Universe’s Earliest Stars

Astronomers may have discovered the ancient chemical remains of the first stars to light up the Universe. Using an innovative analysis of a distant quasar observed by the 8.1-meter Gemini North telescope on Hawai‘i, operated by NSF NOIRLab, the scientists found an unusual ratio of elements that, they argue, could only come from the debris produced by the all-consuming explosion of a 300-solar-mass first-generation star.

About the Video

ID: noirlab2222a
Duration: 1 minutes 12 seconds