Rare earth on ancient stars

The discovery of rare earth elements in ancient stars reinforces the understanding of special meteor waves in the early stages of cosmic formation.

Of the three distant stars, one of the rarest elements known to humans has been found. This finding increases understanding of how heavy elements are created, thereby reinforcing the evidence that a rare type of meteor may be responsible for 'birth' them.

Tellurium , a toxic and fragile semiconductor metal, was first found in the atmosphere of three stars aged nearly 12 billion years. These stars, which are located a few thousand light-years from Earth, exist within the Milky Way. With the Hubble telescope, astronomers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and other US organizations can 'see' tellurium through the light it absorbs. Ground observatories cannot detect tellurium, while Hubble glasses - which fly around orbit above the earth's atmosphere - play an important role in this study.

Ruins of a meteor

Why is it important to discover rare earth elements in stars? According to scientists, right after the Big Bang event about 13.75 billion years ago, only hydrogen, helium and lithium existed. About 300 million years later, when the universe cools and clouds of gas collapse under the influence of gravity, heavier elements of lithium appear inside the core of small stars. But the heaviest elements, such as carbon, oxygen and iron, can only be created by the "violent" deaths of stars, or meteor waves.

If tellurium is present in these three ancient stars, that was created 12 billion years ago, is the 'product' of a rare and swift meteor. Tellurium was then thrown into space and eventually joined the formation of stars and other elements.