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AlwaysOnTime · 3891 days ago · link · · parent · post: The Oldest Star (and some thoughts on theory)
Wouldn't this start be most likely dead at this point? If we're seeing it now, the light we're looking at must be billions years old. I would assume it has gone out long ago but that hasn't reached us yet. Thanks for the great article.
theadvancedapes · 3891 days ago · link ·
The star is actually not that distant from our solar system (I failed to mention it in the article but it is actually in the Milky Way galaxy right now). It was probably ejected from a primitive dwarf galaxy earlier in its life, which explains a few odd things about its current orbit through our galaxy. In short, we are looking at light that was emitted fairly recently (on astronomical light year scales).