Cosmic Archaeology: Using Black Holes To Uncover Evidence of the Universe’s First Stars

Researchers have developed a method to detect the first stars of the universe by observing the unique flares produced when these stars are torn apart by black holes. These findings could allow us to understand more about the early universe, with the help of NASA’s latest telescopes which can observe the resultant infrared emissions.

Shortly after the Universe began with the Big Bang, the first stars, composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, began to form. The properties of these first-generation stars, Pop III, are very different from stars like our own Sun or even the ones that are forming today. They were tremendously hot, gigantic in size and mass, but very short-lived.

Pop III stars are the first factories to synthesize most elements heavier than hydrogen and helium around us today. They are also very important for forming later generations of stars and galaxies. However, there have not been convincing direct detections of Pop III stars up to now, as these stars formed in the early universe are very far away and way too faint for any of our telescopes on the ground or in space.