Basic Information
Nicknamed "Methuselah's Star", the star designated as HD 140283 is a fast-moving star located in the constellation of Libra. It was first observed over a hundred years ago, It is about 190 light-years from Earth, and spectroscopic analysis indicates that it is poorer in metals than our own sun. It is one of the nearest Population II stars to the Earth.
It gets it's nickname because of it's apparent age. Based on observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers estimate that the star is a little over 14 billion years old, give or take a couple billion. Since the universe itself is estimated to be only 13.8 billion years old, this makes HD 140283 the oldest known star in the galaxy. Astronomers theorize that it was among the second generation of stars formed after Big Bang.
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Game and Story Use
- A star that old could be the home of Precursor Aliens
- Or Cthulhu. Just sayin'.