13.2 billion years old star

The oldest star in the universe: Astronomers find HD 140283 is at least 13.2 billion years old

• Star known as HD 140283 has been observed for more than a century
• It formed within the first 600 million years of the Big Bang
• Earth lies just 186 light years away from the oldest known star

By LEWIS SMITH

PUBLISHED: 10:26 GMT, 14 January 2013 | UPDATED: 19:53 GMT, 14 January 2013

More than a century after it was first observed by astronomers a star has been identified as the oldest yet seen in the universe.

The star is just 186 light years away from Earth and is at least 13.2 billion years old, and quite possibly many millions of years older than that.

The Big Bang is calculated by scientists to have taken place about 13.77 billion years ago and the star, known only as HD 140283, was among the earliest stars to form.

An artist's impression of how the oldest known star in the universe might look