"Discovery of 'Old Smokers': Ancient Giant Stars Unveiled in the Milky Way"

Astronomers have discovered hidden stars, including a new type of elderly giant nicknamed "old smokers," at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy, using infrared light to see through the dust and gas that obscures them in visible light. The team also found rarely-seen newborn stars, known as protostars, undergoing extreme outbursts, shedding light on the formation of new solar systems. Additionally, they detected a new type of red giant star that remains dim and red for years before puffing out clouds of smoke, challenging previous understanding of stellar matter ejection and the distribution of heavy elements in the galaxy.