ESO: Best Observational Evidence of First Generation Stars
Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:00 pm
Best Observational Evidence of First Generation Stars in the Universe
ESO Science Release | VLT | 2015 Jun 17
Scientists Discover Brightest Early Galaxy and Likely First Generation Stars
W.M. Keck Observatory | 2015 Jun 17
Evidence for Pop III-like stellar populations in the most luminous Lyman-α
emitters at the epoch of re-ionisation: spectroscopic confirmation - David Sobral et al
evolution of the luminosity function in the re-ionisation era - Jorryt Matthee et al
ESO Science Release | VLT | 2015 Jun 17
VLT discovers CR7, the brightest distant galaxy, and signs of Population III stars
Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have discovered by far the brightest galaxy yet found in the early Universe and found strong evidence that examples of the first generation of stars lurk within it. These massive, brilliant, and previously purely theoretical objects were the creators of the first heavy elements in history — the elements necessary to forge the stars around us today, the planets that orbit them, and life as we know it. The newly found galaxy, labelled CR7, is three times brighter than the brightest distant galaxy known up to now.
Astronomers have long theorised the existence of a first generation of stars — known as Population III stars — that were born out of the primordial material from the Big Bang. All the heavier chemical elements — such as oxygen, nitrogen, carbon and iron, which are essential to life — were forged in the bellies of stars. This means that the first stars must have formed out of the only elements to exist prior to stars: hydrogen, helium and trace amounts of lithium.
These Population III stars would have been enormous — several hundred or even a thousand times more massive than the Sun — blazing hot, and transient — exploding as supernovae after only about two million years. But until now the search for physical proof of their existence had been inconclusive. ...
Scientists Discover Brightest Early Galaxy and Likely First Generation Stars
W.M. Keck Observatory | 2015 Jun 17
Evidence for Pop III-like stellar populations in the most luminous Lyman-α
emitters at the epoch of re-ionisation: spectroscopic confirmation - David Sobral et al
- arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1504.01734 > 07 Apr 2015 (v1), 04 Jun 2015 (v2)
evolution of the luminosity function in the re-ionisation era - Jorryt Matthee et al
- Monthly Notices of the RAS 451(1) 400 (2015 July 21) DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stv947
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1502.07355 > 25 Feb 2015 (v1), 29 May 2015 (v2)