Astronomers believe that there have been three generations of stars in the universe. The first, which are yet to be seen ...

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 ...

All around us are elements forged in stars, from the nickel and copper in coins to the gold and silver in jewelry. Scientists have a good understanding of how these elements form: In many cases, a ...

Astrophysicists have discovered how ‘Galactic snake’, a serpentine-shaped molecular cloud, 9,523 light years away from Earth, is spawning massive stars 1. These stars, eight times heavier than the Sun ...

A dim star orbiting the Milky Way is drawing attention for its almost pristine composition. Named PicII-503, it contains barely any heavy elements, making it one of the most extreme examples of an ...

Still in its original galaxy, a rare holdout from the second generation of stars sheds new light on the origins of the elements—and how massive supernovae reshaped the cosmos ...

The boundary between stars and planets appears increasingly indistinct. Objects such as brown dwarfs, neither fully stars nor ...

A recently detected flash of energy appears to have emanated from the wreckage of colliding galaxies, according to an international team of astronomers led by Penn State scientists. The burst, known ...

Discovered in the Pictor II dwarf galaxy, star PicII-503 has an extreme deficiency in iron—less than 1/40,000th of the sun. This signature makes it the clearest example of a star within a primordial ...

Many space-lovers know the phrase “We are all made of star stuff.” And it’s true — our planet formed from the dust cloud left over from the formation of our Sun, and from the planet, all life. That ...