Astronomers have discovered an exceptionally rare star that may help to solve one of astronomy's enduring mysteries: where the universe's heaviest elements came from.
The star, named LAMOST J0804+5740, resides in the Gaia Sausage (also called Gaia Enceladus), the ancient remnants of a dwarf galaxy that merged with the Milky Way roughly 8 billion to 11 billion years ago. This type of star, known as an actinide-boost star, has a high abundance of radioactive elements known as actinides.
