Some of Universe's First Stars May Still Be Visible (Nola Taylor Redd)

Created by : Francis Goodwin View profile

Birth of a primordial star, as seen through a supercomputer simulation which found that the first stars in the universe likely formed in groups instead of alone. Clark, Glover, Smith, Greif, Klessen, Bromm (Univ.of Heidelberg, UT Austin); Texas Advanced Computing Center View full size image

Feb. 9, 2011 (Space.com) -- A new study that suggests the first stars in the universe formed in groups instead of in isolation, as previously thought, also has found something else: Some of these first stars may still be visible today.

The study, which used supercomputers to simulate the formation of the first stars in the universe, recreated a system of protostars – the precursors to full-blown stars – created from the same cloud of gas at nearly the same time.

The simulation revealed that a central protostar would be created first and would become the most massive, much as was predicted in the previous view of the universe. A number of smaller protostars would follow.

But sometimes the gravitational pull from the other seeded stars would catapult one of the members out of the system.