Possible star from outside Milky Way galaxy discovered near supermassive black hole

MAUNA KEA (HawaiiNewsNow) - An out of this world discovery on the Big Island!

The Subaru Telescope made the find from the Mauna Kea observatory.

Among the stars in the sky scene in the telescope’s live webcam, lies a 10 billion year old star spotted by Japanese astronomers called “S0-6.”

It’s tough to make out a closer version of the star but this is what researchers say it looks like up close.

It took researchers nearly eight years to find this star and although it doesn’t look like much here, they are very excited, because it’s believed to be the first star from a galaxy found near Sagittarius A — a supermassive black hole in the Milky Way.

Researchers think it might help confirm extra-terrestrial life.

Also on Mauna Kea, exists a laser that helps scientists find the far away galaxies.

It reaches 60 miles in the atmosphere before reflecting back to earth and the strength of light tells scientist how much light pollution they need to account for in their measurements.

Read more about the discovery by clicking here.

Take a look at the Subaru Telescope’s live cam here.