Wreckage found from 'pristine star'

[flux_29]

UK and US scientists have found the remnants of a star that exploded more than 13 billion years ago.

It would most probably have been one of the very first stars to shine in the Universe, they say.

All that is left of this pioneer is the gas cloud it threw out into space when it blew itself apart.

It was identified when its contents were illuminated by the brilliant light coming from the surroundings of a distant black hole.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12120430

 

[ThankQ]

"The first stars have been a bit like the Holy Grail for astronomers," said Professor Pettini, who led the research with PhD student Ryan Cooke.
"We think that they all lived very short and furious lives. They are all dead now, and there is no way for us even with the most powerful telescopes to observe them directly.

Why can't we observe them? If a 1st generation star once had a position 14bly from our present location, then wouldn't it be POSSIBLE to observe the star directly?

From what I understand about star life, 1st generation red dwarfs are still with us today.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding something, here. Were all true G1 stars some type of giants? I can't imagine that being true, as the density of matter was not uniform, which must suggest that were larger pools and smaller pools which would result in stars of at least several of the classes we know of today.

 

[FordSVT]

Re: red dwarfs, something I just gleaned from Wiki...

"One mystery which has not been solved as of 2009 is the absence of red dwarf stars with no metals. (In astronomy, a metal is any element heavier than hydrogen or helium). The Big Bang model predicts the first generation of stars should have only hydrogen, helium, and trace amounts of lithium. If such stars included red dwarfs, they should still be observable today, but none have yet been identified. The preferred explanation is that without heavy elements only large and not yet observed population III stars can form, and these rapidly burn out leaving heavy elements which then allow for the formation of red dwarfs. Alternative explanations, such as the idea that zero-metal red dwarfs are dim and could be few in number, are considered much less likely as they seem to conflict with stellar evolution models."