When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Astronomers have solved the mystery of how some stars stay youthfully bright and blue, despite being almost as old as the universe itself: They cannibalize their stellar siblings. Known as blue straggler stars, these age-defying celestial objects have mystified astronomers for more than 70 years. "Blue stragglers are anomalously massive core hydrogen-burning stars that, according to the theory of single star evolution, should not exist," researchers wrote in a paper published Jan. 3 in the journal Nature Communications. To investigate these puzzling stars, researchers used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to analyze 48 galactic globular clusters and more than 3,400 blue straggler stars in the Milky Way. This fuel injection allows the vampire stars to shine more brightly, and to appear more blue and youthful, long after they should have started fading away. Scientists previously posited that blue stragglers can form in two ways: through violent collisions between two stars, or through more subtle interactions in binary systems as pairs of stars orbit each other and trade gas. Galactic globular clusters provide the perfect place to study stellar interactions between gas-siphoning binary systems. These spherical clusters contain thousands or millions of stars, held together by their collective gravity. With so many stars inhabiting a region only tens or hundreds of light-years across, clusters are among the most dense stellar environments in the cosmos. Therefore, they host many stellar collisions and plenty of binary systems. Get the world's most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. So the researchers utilized JWST's ultraviolet filters to distinguish blue stragglers from their elderly cluster-mates — because hotter -- younger stars emit more radiation at shorter wavelengths than older, redder populations that emit poorly in this part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Perhaps counterintuitively, the researchers found that blue stragglers are rarer in dense stellar environments, even though these regions are more likely to facilitate interactions between stars. This measure revealed that blue straggler populations vary greatly, from three to 58 blue stragglers per unit of luminosity — equivalent to the brightness of 10,000 suns. Accordingly, luminosity is related to a cluster's overall mass and, therefore, its density. This suggests that stragglers and binary systems are especially sensitive to the density of their environments. "Where space is tight, binaries can be more easily destroyed, and the stars lose their chance to stay young." The gravitational influences from large stellar populations create a cosmic-bumper-car-like effect that disrupts binary systems early in their evolution, before they can turn into blue straggler stars. In addition to solving an astronomical mystery, this study offers a "new way to understand how stars evolve over billions of years," study co-author Barbara Lanzoni, an astronomer at the University of Bologna, said in the statement. — 'This doesn't appear in computer simulations': Hubble maps chaotic history of Andromeda galaxy, and it's nothing like scientists expected — Hubble telescope discovers 'Cloud-9,' a dark and rare 'failed galaxy' that's unlike anything seen before — NASA's Hubble telescope reveals most detailed photos of interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS to date But after billions of years, blue stragglers may not get to live out their quiet lives in peace. Because they are significantly more massive than their sibling stars, they are more likely to sink to the core of their clusters through a process called dynamical friction. Although this is unfortunate for these calm-loving stars, astronomers can then use them as a "dynamical clock" to extrapolate a cluster's age based on the distribution of its blue stragglers. Finally, these sprightly, fresh-faced stars highlight a dynamic stellar balance. Ferraro, F.R., Lanzoni, B., Vesperini, E. et al. A binary-related origin mediated by environmental conditions for blue straggler stars. Ivan is a long-time writer who loves learning about technology, history, culture, and just about every major “ology” from “anthro” to “zoo.” Ivan also dabbles in internet comedy, marketing materials, and industry insight articles. An exercise science major, when Ivan isn't staring at a book or screen he's probably out in nature or lifting progressively heftier things off the ground. Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher.

To his neighbours, Kevin Rees did not seem like an extremist. He appeared to be enjoying retirement after a career mending dishwashers and other domestic appliances. “He's a quiet character – I've lived opposite him for 10 years and never really spoken to him,” says Sam, who declined to give her full name. Behind the lace curtains, Rees was much more abrasive, at least online. It was only when Rees's online ire went beyond keyboard skirmishes and crossed over into real life violence that his neighbours realised they had an extremist in their midst. The explosion, a jury agreed, was likely to endanger life. This dark turn is now being seen as a cautionary tale about how increasingly influential online communities, such as anti-Ulez groups, can radicalise even suburban pensioners. Rees began tinkering with homemade weapons and explosive materials that he kept in his loft. It just shows that you don't know what's going on in individual homes when someone in a quiet household was making a bomb inside,” Sam said. “They've got a little Smart car, which would qualify for Ulez, so I don't know why he did it.” Bethan David, head of counter-terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said it was “pure chance that no one suffered serious injury or worse”. “Give him a medal,” said one Facebook comment that was liked by more than 1,300 users. Stefano Borella, leader of the Labour group on Bexley council, whose 76-year-old mother heard the bomb blast, said: “It disappoints me that he's being hailed as a hero, but it doesn't surprise me. “Social media is the cesspit of humanity, but the silent majority would be very shocked by this, whatever their views of Ulez. The problem is, Rees looked at anti-Ulez Facebook groups and was enthused by that behaviour.” Borella also criticised Conservative-led Bexley council for failing to condemn Rees's attack at the time. The anti-racist group Hope Not Hate is also alarmed by how Rees was radicalised. This type of reckless sabotage goes well beyond any mainstream opposition to Ulez. He denied the charges against him and blamed his arrest on “Facebook police”. In 2024 Greenpeace's Unearthed team and the Observer, published an investigation into a network of 36 private anti-Ulez Facebook groups with 38,000 members. The groups, which included a number of local Conservative politicians, celebrated vandalism against Ulez cameras by so-called blade runners. They were also found to be a platform for racism, Islamophobia, and conspiracy theories. The article highlighted the Bexley group, where members complained of Islamists taking over Britain and there was a call for Khan to be “taken out”. Confronted in court with his own Facebook posts against Khan and Ulez, Rees said he was “strongly opposed” to the mayor. John Oxley, associate fellow at the centre-right thinktank Bright Blue, said Rees's case “deserves more attention”. He said: “We worry about young people online, but actually there's some vulnerable older people who spend a lot of time in some fairly toxic online spaces.” If you've got these networks of people who've been radicalised and are stewing in this information environment, what could be next?”