by Playfuls Staff |
12th December 2006
A U.S.-led study has determined the first generation of stars -- which have never been observed -- should be [more] distributed evenly across the galaxy.
University of California-Santa Barbara astronomers say their findings deepen the mystery about the missing stellar ancestors.
"Many astronomers thought (the reason the stars have never been found) was because the stars without heavy elements were hidden from us," said Evan Scannapieco of the university's Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics and first author of the study.
"Because our galaxy formed from the inside out, the idea was that these very old stars would all be near the center," he added. "But the center of Milky Way is extremely crowded with dust and newer stars, making it very hard to detect individual old stars in this environment." The new study's results make that unlikely.
Scientists said they believe early generation of stars should appear different from later-forming stars but no one has detected a survivor from that primordial population.
The research by Scannapieco; Andrea Ferrara of the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy; and Raffaella Schneider of the Arcetri Observatory in Florence, Italy, appears in the current issue of the Astrophysical Journal.
© 2006 UPI
