Astronomers Discover Two Heavy Metal Stars

[n2doc]

This is an artist’s impression of the surface of the star HE 2359-2844. The very high temperature – about 38,000 degrees Celsius – makes the surface bluish in color. An alien observer close to the star might be able to see the lead- and zirconium-rich cloud layers using specially chosen filters (© C. S. Jeffery)


According to their paper published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, these stars, labeled HE 2359-2844 and HE 1256-2738, have surfaces containing 10,000 times more lead than is present on the surface of the Sun.

HE 2359-2844 is a subdwarf located at a distance of 800 light-years away in the constellation of Sculptor.

The star HE 1256-2738 is located about 1,000 light years away in the constellation of Hydra.

The scientists using observations from the archives of the ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile identified a few features in spectra of both stars that did not match any atoms expected to be present. After some detective work, they realized that the features were due to lead.

Lead is one of the heaviest naturally occurring elements. In the Sun there is less than one lead atom for every ten billion hydrogen atoms.

At around 38,000 degrees Celsius, the surfaces of HE 2359-2844 and HE 1256-2738 are so hot that three electrons are removed from every lead atom. The resulting ions produce distinctive lines in the star’s spectrum, from which the concentration of lead in the atmosphere can be measured.

Using the same technique, HE 2359-2844 was also found to show ten thousand times more yttrium and zirconium than on the Sun.

more

http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/science-heavy-metal-stars-01283.html

[Xipe Totec]

1. That headline is just asking for it.

[LeftofObama]

2. HA!

You beat me to it!

[pkdu]

3. Did they just wake up from a decades-long coma?

[link:|

[Scootaloo]

4. The universe is a weird place. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

5. Name them Nigel and David

Last edited Sat Aug 3, 2013, 06:54 PM - Edit history (1)

[Lugal Zaggesi]

6. Meh

Birthing stars use whatever material happens to be lying around.
Lots of heavy atoms means they formed in gas clouds including the remnants of older supernovas.

I wonder what kinds of planets they have, if any ?

"subdwarf" - that's gotta be a tough label for an adolescent star...

[gtar100]

7. The universe is awesome, full of an abundance of materials to experiment with.

Conservatives may have us on a crash course with extinction but the universe in all its real potentialities will keep on chugging along. Maybe somebody somewhere will actually figure it all out. Of that I am envious. But I wish them well as one of many who have had such high hopes here on Earth.