The first supernovae
The earliest stars die young and violently, seeding the universe with the first heavy elements.
- When
- Known to
- ± 50 million years
- Era
- First Light, Stelliferous
Population III stars burn through their fuel in a few million years and end as supernovae, some so massive they detonate completely as pair-instability explosions leaving nothing behind. These blasts scatter the first carbon, oxygen and iron ever to exist. Every element heavier than lithium in every planet and every living thing traces back to stellar deaths beginning here.