A closer look
Most stars are incredibly boring, predictable spheres of hydrogen and helium. Przybylski's Star, however, is a chemical freak show. Its spectrum reveals massive amounts of short-lived radioactive heavy elements like americium, curium, and plutonium floating in its upper atmosphere. These elements decay far too fast to have been there since the star’s birth, and stars of this mass physically cannot fuse elements this heavy. While some desperately theorize it's due to bizarre magnetic levitation pulling rare isotopes to the surface, the utter absurdity of it has led to actual, peer-reviewed suggestions that an alien civilization is dumping toxic nuclear waste into it.
