Study finds the oldest stars in the cosmos

A new study has given us the first evidence of the lives – and deaths – of the oldest stars in our universe.

Scientists from China, Japan and Australia found the stars' unique chemical footprints in the halo of the Milky Way galaxy. They used the combined power of two of the world's largest land-based telescopes, in Beijing and in Hawaii.

Their findings showed that the "first-generation stars" – which lit up the universe 100-250 million years after the Big Bang – could be colossal, 260 times bigger than the sun.

Physicist Avi Loeb says these first stars are among the universe's biggest mysteries. Scientists think that they were made of only hydrogen and helium, without the other chemical elements that came later.