Computer simulations run by a team from Brown University find that a precise combination of hafnium, nitrogen and carbon would have a melting point of 4,400 kelvins (7,460 degrees Fahrenheit).

As demonstrated through computer experiments, the material would have a higher melting point than any known substance by at least 200 kelvins and could possibly even stay intact in the coolest layers of the sun (although it would have to somehow get through the blazing hot outer corona first).

The current record belongs to a material made of a combination of hafnium, tantalum and carbon (Hf-Ta-C), but the new simulations predict that just the right amounts of hafnium, nitrogen, and carbon (HfN0.38C0.51) could withstand even more heat. Researchers are currently working to synthesize the substance so that they can test it in a lab.