Overview
- The red giant SDSS J0715-7334 is reported to have a total metallicity Z < 7.8×10⁻⁷, about twice as metal-poor as the previous record holder.
- Unlike many extremely metal-poor stars, it shows an unusually low carbon abundance, making its chemical profile particularly rare.
- The team’s modeling suggests the star formed from gas enriched by a roughly 30-solar-mass Population III supernova.
- Gaia-based kinematics point to an origin in the Large Magellanic Cloud before the star migrated into the Milky Way’s halo.
- Its position below the fine-structure cooling threshold supports a role for dust-driven cooling in forming such low-metallicity, low-mass stars, though further observations and independent confirmation are needed.