A galactic fossil

Dear friends ... and Seanie,

The scientific community is abuzz with a recent publication surrounding HE 1523-0901, a star in Libra which has been dated to be 13.2 billion years old (!) and which was created a mere 500 million years ago after the Big Bang. The dating of this star was based on techniques similar to carbon-14 where the abundance of thorium, uranium and other metals led to this dramatic estimate.

The star is quite bright with an apparent magnitude of 11.1 but very low for those (of us) at mid-northern latitudes. For an image capture of the immediate area from early this morning, please www.perseus.gr/Astro-Star-Oldest-HE-1523-0901.htm (clicking on the hyperlinked image leads to a second image with better image scale and which is inverted).

Clear skies!

Hi Anthony,

This was already posted & debated some days ago on the forum in Cosmology & Physics. Go to Title 'Ancient star nearly as old as the Universe'.

Eamonn A

Hi Eamonn,

I picked up the story from the Astronomy Magazine website and who have it as their lead article.