How old is the oldest star ever observed?
29 July 2022
In 2000, scientists dated what they thought was the oldest star in the Universe. The observation by the European Space Agency (ESA) satellite “Hipparkos” estimated that HD140283 (commonly called Methuselah) is 16 billion years old. This number was rather mysterious. The age of the Universe, which was obtained from observations of cosmic microwave background radiation, was 13.8 billion years, and the stars are not older than the Universe.
Howard Bond, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University, says this was a significant contradiction. So Bond and his colleagues set out to find out the truth to verify the accuracy of the numbers. Their conclusion was nothing short of a shock. The beginning of the Universe is the Big Bang, which occurred about 13.8 billion years ago. Although no stars of the third population have been discovered, the oldest star observed is the one that emerged after the first star had a supernova explosion. These stars are all Population II stars and are about the same age as the Universe. With advances in telescope technology, the title of the oldest star will change, and scientists hope to find the first star in the Universe soon.
Elisabetta Kafau and her team searched for an extremely low-metal star for more than ten years before discovering the star. Mr. Kafau is surprised to find a star in the “forbidden zone” of the star formation model.
HD 122563 is unique among the oldest stars. All Population II stars are metal-poor, but this star is thought to be very metal-poor. This star’s low heavy metal content was first pointed out in 1963, and for more than 20 years, it has been known as the most metal-deficient star. The composition of this star is very important in understanding the chemical composition of galaxies. In 2002, scientists discovered gold in BD +17° 3248, which was the first time gold was discovered on a star other than the Sun. The researchers say, “There’s probably a trace of gold on every star, but this is. It also states that from the age of BD +17° 3248, this gold is representative of the first gold made in the Universe.
