Astrophys. J. 698, L37–L41 (2009)

In the unusual chemistry of a bright star, researchers have detected the echo of the Universe's first stars, massive but short-lived giants that existed about 13 billion years ago.

BD+44°493 is an extreme example of a star enriched in carbon but depleted in iron, say Hiroko Ito of SOKENDAI, the Graduate University of Advanced Studies in Tokyo, and her colleagues. The high amount of carbon could not have been produced by the star's own fusion synthesis, say the researchers, nor is it likely to have come from a companion star or a previous generation of rapidly spinning stars. They thus surmise that it originated in the turbulent, black-hole-producing supernovae of the Universe's first stars.