Overview
- Researchers report GS 3073’s nitrogen excess is far above levels produced by ordinary stellar populations or explosions.
- Stellar‑evolution modeling ties the signature to a narrow mass range of supermassive primordial stars between 1,000 and 10,000 solar masses.
- The proposed mechanism involves helium‑core burning creating carbon, leakage into hydrogen‑burning shells, CNO‑cycle nitrogen production, and convective mixing that enriches surrounding gas.
- GS 3073 hosts an actively accreting central black hole that is consistent with being a remnant of such a star.
- The peer‑reviewed study based on JWST spectroscopy appears in Astrophysical Journal Letters and offers the first compelling observational support for a 2022 prediction about early supermassive stars.