Uncovering Supernova Secrets from the Early Universe's Massive Stars.
The chemical composition of a strange star found in the halo of our Milky Way galaxy represents the first evidence of the violent deaths of the universe's first stars, a new study reports. These unique explosions are referred to as pair-instability supernovae (PISNe). The chemically peculiar star LAMOST J1010+2358 could represent the first evidence of PISNe from early massive stars. The researchers used data collected by the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) survey and follow-up observations by the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii to determine that LAMOST J1010+2358 formed in a gas cloud that was dominated by the remains of a 260-solar-mass star that died in a PISNe blast.