A galactic fossil

Recent cosmological studies show that the Big Bang occurred 13.7 billion years ago. The metal-poor star HE 1523 formed in our Milky Way galaxy soon afterward, cosmologically speaking : 13.2 billion years ago. The primitive star contained the radioactive heavy elements uranium and thorium, and the amounts of those elements decay over time, each according to its own half-life. Today, astronomer Anna Frebel of the University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory and her colleagues have deduced the star's age based on the amounts of radioactive elements it contains compared to certain other "anchor" elements, specifically europium, osmium, and iridium. The study of the star's chemical make-up was made using the UVES spectrograph on the Kueyen Telescope, part of ESO's Very Large Telescope, at Paranal, in Chile.

Crediti:

ESO

Riguardo l'immagine

Identificazione:eso0723a
Tipo:Collage
Data di rilascio:10 Maggio 2007
Notizie relative:eso0723
Grandezza:4961 x 2772 px

Riguardo all'oggetto

Nome:HE 1523-0901
Tipo:Unspecified : Technology : Observatory : Telescope
Milky Way : Star
Categoria:Illustrations
Stars

Formati delle immagini

JPEG grande
2,9 MB