Astronomers find oldest dead star in Milky Way

The oldest dead star in the Milky Way has been detected by astronomers. It formed more than 10.7 billion years ago and is 90 light-years from Earth.

A British-led team modelled the star, named WDJ2147-4035, using data collected by the European Space Agency’s Gaia observatory. The star has been cooling for 10.2 billion years.

Lead author Abbigail Elms, a PHD student at the University of Warwick, explained: “These metal-polluted stars show that Earth isn’t unique – there are other planetary systems out there with planetary bodies similar to the Earth.”

The study, in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, sheds fresh light on the formation of stars.