Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2022

A stronomers may have discovered the ancient chemical remains of the first stars to light up the Universe. Using an innovative analy- sis of a distant quasar observed by the 8.1-meter Gemini North tele- scope on Hawai‘i, operated by NSF’s 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. [NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/Spaceengine]