PicII-503
.jpg) | |
| Object type | Red giant, population II star  |
|---|---|
| Other designations | USNO-A2.0 0225-03197987, Gaia DR1 5480105831331104384, Gaia DR2 5480105831331104384, Gaia DR3 5480105831331104384 |
Observation data (Epoch J2000) | |
| Constellation | Pictor |
| 06h 43m 59.01s[1] | |
| Declination | −60° 08′ 25″[1] |
| Distance | 150,000 ly (46,000 pc) |
| 20.35 | |
 Related media on Wikimedia Commons | |
PicII-503 is an extremely rare, metal-poor star in the dwarf galaxy Pictor II.[2][3] It is located at around 150,000 light-years away from Earth, in the southern constellation of Pictor.[4][5] It was believed to have formed from the material enriched by one of the earliest generation of stars in the universe, making it one of the most chemically primitive stars ever known, with an estimated age of more than 10 billion years old.[1]
The star was discovered in 2024, using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope, at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), Chile.[2][6] The incredibly low amounts of elements heavier than helium shows evidence about the chemical composition of the early universe and the first generation of stars.[4]
See also
[edit source]References
[edit source]- 1 2 3 Chiti, Anirudh; Placco, Vinicius M.; Pace, Andrew B.; Ji, Alexander P.; Prabhu, Deepthi S.; Cerny, William; Limberg, Guilherme; Stringfellow, Guy S.; Drlica-Wagner, Alex; Atzberger, Kaia R.; Choi, Yumi; Crnojević, Denija; Ferguson, Peter S.; Kallivayalil, Nitya; Noël, Noelia E. D.; Riley, Alexander H.; Sand, David J.; Simon, Joshua D.; Walker, Alistair R.; Bom, Clecio R.; Carballo-Bello, Julio A.; James, David J.; Martínez-Vázquez, Clara E.; Medina, Gustavo E.; Vivas, A. Katherina (2026). "Enrichment by the first stars in a relic dwarf galaxy". Nature Astronomy. 10 (6): 830–841. arXiv:2508.04053. Bibcode:2026NatAs..10..830C. doi:10.1038/s41550-026-02802-z.
- 1 2 "Extremely Rare Second-Generation Star Discovered Inside Ancient Relic Dwarf Galaxy". NOIRLab. 16 March 2026. Retrieved 25 July 2026.
- ↑ "Extremely rare second-generation star discovered inside ancient relic dwarf galaxy". Phys.org. 16 March 2026. Retrieved 25 July 2026.
- 1 2 Lea, Robert (19 March 2026). "'At the edge of what we thought possible': Astronomers find extremely rare star from ancient universe". Space.com. Retrieved 25 July 2026.
- ↑ Starr, Michelle (28 March 2026). "Extremely Rare Star Preserves Traces of The Universe's First Light". ScienceAlert. Retrieved 25 July 2026.
- ↑ Bennett, Jay (27 March 2026). "A rare star in a tiny galaxy preserves a record of the early universe". ScienceNews. Retrieved 25 July 2026.
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