Primordial nucleosynthesis during the early universe generated hydrogen, helium, and minor lithium-7 before the cosmos cooled, halting further fusion. Stellar interiors synthesize elements up to iron ...

Besides being a point of light, a star is a luminous, spherical mass of plasma, enough to hold itself together under its own gravity. On its own, though, gravitational rounding isn't enough. What ...

For decades, astronomers have wondered what the very first stars in the universe were like. These stars formed new chemical elements, which enriched the universe and allowed the next generations of ...

The precursors of heavy elements might arise in the plasma underbellies of swollen stars or in smoldering stellar corpses. They definitely exist in East Lansing, Michigan. The Facility for Rare ...

"Even today, our understanding of star formation is still developing; comprehending how stars formed in the earlier universe is even more challenging." When you purchase through links on our site, we ...

We may have finally seen the first generation of stars. Astronomers have been looking for these primordial behemoths, called Population III stars, for decades. Now they have found what may be the most ...

Alexey A Petrov receives funding from the US Department of Energy. Scientists working with the James Webb Space Telescope discovered three unusual astronomical objects in early 2025, which may be ...

In an ejection that would have caused its rotation to slow, a magnetar is depicted losing material into space in this artist’s concept. The magnetar’s strong, twisted magnetic field lines (shown in ...

Chemistry in the first 50 million to 100 million years after the Big Bang may have been more active than we expected. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Luke Keller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. For decades, astronomers have wondered what the very ...