Stars and galaxies may have formed much sooner after the big bang than astronomers previously thought, according to new observations by a German–US collaboration. The team detected iron in three of ...

How heavy can an element be? An international team of researchers has found that ancient stars were capable of producing elements with atomic masses greater than 260, heavier than any element on the ...

An analysis of 42 ancient stars in the Milky Way reveals the first hints of nuclear fission in the cosmos, hinting at the existence of elements far heavier than anything found naturally on Earth. When ...

Scientists have uncovered hints of a world of new elements beyond the periodic table. A new study has found that ancient stars may have been producing extremely heavy elements that remain unknown to ...

Scientists believe that many of the elements found in the Universe that are heavier than iron are created when stars merge or explosively die, but they are still unsure about the cosmic origin of ...