Tag Archive for 'Metallicity'

This artist’s impression shows a distant gas cloud that contains different chemical elements, illustrated here with schematic representations of various atoms. Image credit: L. Calçada / M. Kornmesser / ESO.

VLT Detects Chemical Signatures of Universe’s First Stars in Distant Gas Clouds

May 4, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have detected three distant gas clouds whose chemical composition matches what they expect from the...

Shapiro et al. show that the development of complex life on planets in the habitable zone can be sustained from a few percent of oxygen upward, being robust for a large range of stellar characteristics and against major extraterrestrial cataclysms. Image credit: MPS / Hormesdesign.de.

Metal-Poor Stars are More Suitable for Evolution of Life on Their Planets: Study

Apr 18, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Atmospheric ozone and oxygen protect the biosphere of our planet against harmful ultraviolet radiation. In new research, astronomers modeled atmospheres...

Hartwig et al. shed a new light on solving the mystery of the first stars from the complex data set of Galactic archaeology surveys. Image credit: Kavli IPMU.

Universe’s First Stars were Born in Small Clusters, Study Suggests

Mar 23, 2023 by News Staff

In unveiling the nature of the first stars, the main astronomical clue is the elemental compositions of the second generation of stars, observed as extremely...

SPT0418-47 is gravitationally lensed by a foreground galaxy, appearing in the sky as a near-perfect ring of light -- a so-called Einstein ring. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Rizzo et al.

Dusty, Chemically Mature Galaxy Spotted in Early Universe

Feb 28, 2023 by News Staff

The newly-discovered galaxy, SPT0418-SE, and its much larger companion, SPT0418-47, reside in a massive dark-matter halo with yet-to-be-discovered neighbors,...

This Webb image shows the center of Messier 74. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / Hoyer et al., arXiv: 2211.13997.

Webb Focuses on Nuclear Star Cluster of Messier 74

Nov 30, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Using new images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope as well as archival data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have studied...

This transmission spectrum of WASP-39b was captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on July 10, 2022. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Leah Hustak, STScI / Joseph Olmsted, STScI.

Webb Detects Carbon Dioxide in Atmosphere of Hot-Saturn WASP-39b

Aug 25, 2022 by News Staff

Carbon dioxide is a key chemical species that is found in a wide range of planetary atmospheres. This transmission spectrum of WASP-39b was captured by...

This Hubble image shows the bulge metal-rich globular cluster NGC 6638. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Cohen.

Hubble Spots Young Globular Cluster in Milky Way Galaxy’s Bulge

Aug 1, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a very detailed image of the bulge globular cluster NGC 6638. This Hubble image shows the bulge metal-rich...

Images of WISE 1810 from the UKIDSS Galactic Plane Survey (left) and NOT ALFOSC (right). The object is indicated by a red arrow. North is up and east left. Each image is about 80 arcsec across. Image credit: Lodieu et al., doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202243516.

Astronomers Find Ancient Brown Dwarf in Solar Neighborhood

Jul 22, 2022 by Natali Anderson

WISE 1810055-1010023 (WISE 1810 for short), a metal-poor brown dwarf located 8.9 parsecs (29 light-years) away, is nearly 10 billion years old. Images...

This image shows the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Pegasus V (center). Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab / D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Pegasus V: New Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxy Spotted in Outskirts of Andromeda

Jul 1, 2022 by News Staff

Astronomers have discovered a new ultra-faint dwarf galaxy in the constellation of Pegasus and characterized it using deep imaging with the Gemini Multi-Object...

This visible-light image of Jupiter was created from data captured on January 11, 2017 using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. Near the top, a long brown feature called a ‘brown barge’ extends 72,000 km (nearly 45,000 miles) in the east-west direction. The Great Red Spot stands out prominently in the lower left, while the smaller feature nicknamed Red Spot Jr. (known to Jovian scientists as Oval BA) appears to its lower right. Image credit: NASA / ESA / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / Wong et al. / de Pater et al. / M. Zamani.

Jupiter’s Atmosphere is Inhomogeneous, New Study Suggests

Jun 8, 2022 by News Staff

While the massive atmosphere of Jupiter consists mainly of hydrogen and helium, the key to understanding the gas giant’s formation and evolution lies...

Wylie et al. investigated the metallicity, age, and orbital anatomy of the inner Milky Way, specifically focusing on the outer bar region. This image shows a metallicity map of the inner Milky Way, based on orbital data calculated by Wylie et al. The red star marks the position of the Sun, while the white dashed lines mark different sight lines. The red contours show specific density levels to highlight important features: a bar in the middle with a ring-like structure around it. Image credit: Max-Planck-Institut fur Extraterrestrische Physik.

Milky Way’s Inner Ring is Nearly 6 Billion Years Old, Astronomers Say

Apr 5, 2022 by News Staff

Our Milky Way Galaxy hosts an inner ring-like structure that is rich in metals (elements heavier than hydrogen and helium) and intermediately aged, according...

Hubble’s photo of Jupiter displays the ever-changing landscape of its turbulent atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Michael H. Wong, University of California, Berkeley / Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

Proto-Jupiter Underwent Significant Orbital Migration, Research Suggests

Apr 4, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The atmosphere of Jupiter is enriched with heavy elements by a factor of about 3 compared to a protosolar composition. The origin of this enrichment and...

C-19 is a grouping of stars in the Milky Way halo that share a common orbital motion around the Galaxy. Image credit: Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva / Spaceengine / M. Zamani.

Astronomers Find Primordial Stellar Stream in Milky Way’s Halo

Jan 6, 2022 by News Staff

Named C-19, the newly-discovered stellar stream is the remnant of an ancient globular cluster and contains stars with extremely low metallicity, with a...

An artist’s impression of the exoplanet HAT-P-11b with its extended helium atmosphere blown away by the star, an orange dwarf star smaller, but more active, than the Sun. Image credit: Denis Bajram.

HAT-P-11b Has Strong Magnetosphere, Metal-Poor Atmosphere

Dec 23, 2021 by News Staff

Using ultraviolet data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have detected carbon ions — charged particles that interact with magnetic...

Putirka & Xu present the first estimates of rock types on exoplanets that once orbited polluted white dwarfs -- stars whose atmospheric compositions record the infall of formerly orbiting planetary objects. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva / M. Zamani & M. Kosari, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Rocky Exoplanets are More Diverse and Exotic than Previously Thought

Nov 3, 2021 by News Staff

Most rocky exoplanets are exotic in composition and mineralogy, according to an analysis of the chemical composition of the so-called ‘polluted’ white...

An artist’s impression of the hot-Jupiter exoplanet HAT-P-68b and its parent star HAT-P-68 (also known as GSC 1925-01046 and 2MASS 07535598+2356176), a K5-type dwarf star with a mass of 0.68 solar masses and a radius of 0.67 solar radii. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Astronomers Measure Amount of Carbon and Oxygen in Hot Jupiter’s Atmosphere

Oct 29, 2021 by News Staff

Using the Immersion GRating INfrared Spectrometer (IGRINS) at the Gemini South Observatory on Cerro Pachon, Chile, astronomers have measured carbon-to-hydrogen...

Palmerini et al. analyzed the isotopic composition of heavy neutron capture elements measured in SiC stardust grains extracted from pristine meteorites, interpreting them as the outcome of s-process nucleosynthesis occurring in the AGB stages of stars with masses between two and three solar masses and solar metallicities. Image credit: Nan Liu / Andrew Davis / NASA.

Researchers Measure Isotopic Ratios in Presolar Stardust Grains

Oct 12, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has analyzed a diverse set of presolar grains with the goal of realizing their true stellar origins. Palmerini et al....

Location of the observed O- and B- type stars on the Galactic plane. Image credit: De Cia et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03780-0.

Milky Way’s Interstellar Medium Is Not Homogeneous, New Study Shows

Sep 9, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have measured the metallicity of the neutral interstellar medium towards 25 bright stars in our Milky...

This is an artist’s impression of a free-floating Y-dwarf. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Enigmatic Ancient Brown Dwarf Spotted in Solar Neighborhood

Sep 1, 2021 by News Staff

WISEA J153429.75-104303.3 (WISE 1534-1043 for short) — nicknamed ‘The Accident’ by its discoverer, citizen scientist Dan Caselden — is...

The red giant star SMSS J200322.54-114203.3 (center) in the south-eastern corner of the constellation of Aquila, close to the border with Capricornus and Sagittarius. Image credit: Da Costa / SkyMapper.

Ancient Magneto-Rotational Hypernova Fuelled High Levels of Metals in Unique Star

Jul 8, 2021 by News Staff

An explosion of a fast-spinning strongly magnetized star, called a magneto-rotational hypernova, is the most likely explanation for the presence of unusually...

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