Study: First stars were massive, fast-spinning

LOS ANGELES — the first stars that littered the universe were not only immense but probably also fast-spinning, according to a new study that light on the nature of stellar evolution raises.These early stars died out long ago, but astronomers can have a glimpse of what they were by later generations of stars to watch.A team of scientists, led by Cristina Chiappini of the Astrophysical Institute Potsdam in Germany were reanalyzed data from the Very Large Telescope of a 12-billion-year-old star of hope. They found high levels of metal in the stars a chemical signature that earlier generations, maybe even suggests the first stars, were massive and rotated much faster than their current counterparts.This is important because a star that rotates faster can live longer and suffer from different fate than slow-spinning.Findings appear in Thursday's Edition of the magazine NatureCurrent theory States that the universe arose from an explosion called the Big Bang about 13.7 billion years ago. During the next 200 million years, the universe cooled, where the dark and starless.The first stars that formed during the universe of children's shoes were different from stars like our Sun, which is usually hydrogen, but also contains oxygen and carbon. The earliest stars were mainly hydrogen and helium. They also quickly lived and died young.When she died, she as a brilliant Supernova exploded and seeded the universe with fundamental elements of future stars, including our Sun were created.As the first stars were indeed spin machines, some of them probably died as gamma-ray bursts, which means that scientists today would have a better chance of detecting them.Telescopes such as NASA's swift satellite have the ability to spy gamma-ray bursts, but have a much harder time observing supernovas.This "increases the chances we'll see immediately the death of massive stars during that era," said Jason Tumlinson of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland, who had no role in the study. Online: Nature: http://nature.com/nature

Copyright 2011 the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ 's. Report corrections and clarifications, contact standards Editor Brent Jones. For consideration of publication in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and State for authentication. Our corrections, go to corrections. usatoday.com. We've updated the guidelines for the conversation. Changes include a brief overview of the monitoring process and an explanation about how to use the "report abuse" button. Read more.