Overview
- The research, published in Nature Astronomy, reports SDSS J0715-7334 as the most metal-poor star ever measured with about 0.005% of the Sun’s heavy elements.
- Gaia measurements of distance and motion show the star was born in the Large Magellanic Cloud and later drifted into the Milky Way.
- A high-resolution Magellan spectrum reveals extremely low iron and no detectable carbon, a pattern that points to a rare formation path influenced by early cosmic dust.
- University of Chicago undergraduates flagged the star from SDSS-V survey data and confirmed it during a March 2025 observing run using the MIKE spectrograph at Las Campanas.
- Astronomers call elements heavier than hydrogen and helium “metals,” so this scarcity marks the star as a second-generation relic that helps test ideas about early chemical enrichment and star formation.