Using China's largest optical telescope, astronomers have discovered a record number of unevolved stars rich in lithium, a key chemical element linking cosmology to the structure and evolution of stars.

With the help of the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), a team led by researchers from the National Astronomical Observatories under the Chinese Academy of Sciences has discovered nine new lithium-rich unevolved stars, more than twice as many as previously known. The study was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.