{"id":25890,"date":"2023-05-03T08:00:54","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T12:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=25890"},"modified":"2023-05-03T01:02:50","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T05:02:50","slug":"eso-observation-of-distant-gas-clouds-formed-from-the-first-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=25890","title":{"rendered":"ESO: Observation of distant gas clouds formed from the first stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest report from the European Southern Observatory (ESO<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Astronomers find distant gas clouds
\nwith leftovers of the first stars<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
This artist\u2019s impression shows a distant gas cloud that contains different chemical elements, illustrated here with schematic representations of various atoms. Using ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope, astronomers have detected three distant gas clouds whose chemical composition matches what we expect from the explosions of the first stars that appeared in the Universe. These early stars can be studied indirectly by analysing the chemical elements they dispersed into the surrounding environment after they died in supernova explosions. The three distant gas clouds detected in this study are rich in carbon, oxygen, and magnesium, but poor in iron. This is exactly the signature expected from the explosions of the first stars.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Using ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope (VLT), researchers have found for the first time the fingerprints left by the explosion of the first stars in the Universe. They detected three distant gas clouds whose chemical composition matches what we expect from the first stellar explosions. These findings bring us one step closer to understanding the nature of the first stars that formed after the Big Bang.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time ever, we were able to identify the chemical traces of the explosions of the first stars in very distant gas clouds<\/em>,\u201d<\/p>\n

says Andrea Saccardi, a PhD student at the Observatoire de Paris – PSL, who led this study during his master\u2019s thesis at the University of Florence.<\/p>\n

Researchers think that the first stars<\/a> that formed in the Universe were very different from the ones we see today. When they appeared 13.5 billion years ago, they contained just hydrogen and helium, the simplest chemical elements in nature [1]<\/a>. These stars, thought to be tens or hundreds of times more massive than our Sun, quickly died in powerful explosions known as supernovae, enriching the surrounding gas with heavier elements for the first time. Later generations of stars were born out of that enriched gas, and in turn ejected heavier elements as they too died. But the very first stars are now long gone, so how can researchers learn more about them?<\/p>\n

\u201cPrimordial stars can be studied indirectly by detecting the chemical elements they dispersed in their environment after their death<\/em>,\u201d<\/p>\n

says Stefania Salvadori, Associate Professor at the University of Florence and co-author of the study published today in the Astrophysical Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n