(AFP, Paris, 12th) Astronomers have used a unique method to determine that a star in the Milky Way is nearly as old as the universe itself. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) stated that the star, designated "HE 1523-0901," is 13.2 billion years old, while the estimated age of the universe is approximately 13.7 billion years.
International astronomers utilized the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Southern Observatory to measure the radioactive thorium and uranium elements in the star to determine its age.