3 Questions: Anna Frebel on searching for the oldest stars
Anna Frebel has unearthed some of the oldest stars in the universe, meticulously extricating them from the billions of stellar grains in the sky. By determining the chemical composition of these ancient stars, she hopes to reconstruct a picture of the cosmic environment in the earliest moments of the universe. Frebel, the Silverman Family Career Development Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and a member of the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, is among a new generation of astronomers known as stellar archaeologists — astronomers who search the sky for distant light from ancient stars. In a new book published this month, “Searching for the Oldest Stars: Ancient Relics from the Early Universe,” Frebel chronicles the often-sleepless hunt for stellar artifacts. She spoke with MIT News about the sometimes-risky life of an astronomer, and how light from ancient stars may give new understanding to our modern world....