When you purchase through link on our site , we may earn an affiliate mission . Here ’s how it works .
Scientists have discovered evidence of a monolithic star from the early universe that does not conform to with our current intellect of the creation . The ancient stellar oddball , which research worker have dubbed the " Barbenheimer Star , " probably had a mixture of element in its sum that has never been regard before — then , it died a apparently inconceivable death while birthing an equally puzzling ace in its place , a new study shows . ( The name Barbenheimer is a reference to the contrasting films " Barbie " and " Oppenheimer " releasing on the same day last twelvemonth . )
Researchers uncovered traces of the Barbenheimer Star after taking a closer look atJ0931 + 0038 , a distant red-faced giant adept . J0931 was first discovered in 1999 by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey ( SDSS ) — one of the largest and most elaborated astronomical databases of the Nox sky — but had not been decently analyze until now .
The newly discovered Barbenheimer Star exploded in a supernova billions of years ago,leaving behind a cloud of unusual elements in its wake.
In a new study upload to thepreprint waiter arXivon Jan. 4 , research worker turned the SDSS scope in New Mexico back toward J0931 and captured a elaborate spectrum of the lead ’s light , which was afterward verified by follow - up observation from the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile . These spectra unveil that J0931 apparently had an passing odd metallicity , or chemical substance composition , with an unusually high concentration of heavy elements . ( These results have not yet been peer - reviewed . )
Using the fresh acquired data , the enquiry team pieced together how J0931 formed via a process known as leading archaeology . This give away that the star was birthed from the supernova remnant of an even larger star — between 50 and 80 times more monolithic than the Lord’s Day — that date back as far as 13 billion year ago , only around 700 million days afterthe Big Bang .
The metallicity of the parent star ( Barbenheimer ) was likely equally as weird as that of J0931 before it blew up , which would have been completely dissimilar from other known headliner in the early universe of discourse .
J0931 is a red giant star that formed from the supernova remnants of the Barbenheimer Star.
" We ’ve never see anything like this , " bailiwick spark advance authorAlex Ji , an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago , said in astatement . " Whatever happen back then , it must have been awesome . "
Related:1st evidence of nuclear fission in stars hints at element ' never produced on Earth '
J0931 ’s metallicity was strange for three reasons . First , the maven had unco low story of light elements such as magnesium , sodium and aluminium , which are normally more abundant in hotshot . secondly , it had an unusually high amount of midweight component such as branding iron , nickel and zinc . And finally , it had an " overabundance " of heavier elements like strontium and palladium , according to the researchers .
The Barbenheimer Star likely had a chemical composition that was unlike any other known star from the early universe.
" We sometimes see one of these features at a time , but we ’ve never before realise all of them in the same star topology , " study carbon monoxide - authorJennifer Johnson , an astronomer at The Ohio State University , said in the statement .
Most stars have the reverse metallicity of J0931 : They have high level of easy element and lower stratum of midweight and heavy elements . This is because star topology are made preponderantly of hydrogen and He , which fuse together in the stars ' marrow to create heavier elements . These new chemical element , which are much less abundant , eventuallyfuse into heavier and leaden elements .
It is therefore difficult to explain why J0931 has such and teemingness of heavy chemical element because it does n’t seem to have a gamey enough concentration of light elements to have create them .
" Amazingly , no existing model of element formation can explain what we see , " said study co - authorSanjana Curtis , an astronomer at the University of California , Berkeley . It " almost seems self - contradictory , " she enjoin .
J0931 ’s unusual metallicity would have partially been inherited from the ingredients that the Barbenheimer Star spit out when it exploded . This intend that the parent star would in all probability have had a similarly invert metallicity . This is even foreign , because in the early macrocosm , stars should n’t have exist long enough to have make such eminent concentrations of sound elements , the squad said .
— unusual sensation organization may hold first evidence of an ultra - rare ' dark matter star '
— Bizarre raw cosmic physical object is the most magnetic whiz in the universe
— foreign ' reverse shock wafture ' supernova is exploding in the wrong guidance
But what ’s even stranger is that the Barbenheimer Star should have never gone supernova , the researchers wrote . In possibility , a ace with Barbenheimer ’s prognosticate stack should have collapsed into ablack holerather than break loose outward . At the moment , the cogitation team can not explain why this crash did n’t materialize .
The only fashion for scientist to determine more about the Barbenhaimer Star and its bizarre make-up is tosearch for other similar starring geek from the early universeto uncover more slice of this cosmic puzzle .
" The macrocosm direct this movie , we are just the camera crew , " study co - authorKeith Hawkins , an astronomer at the University of Texas at Austin , say in the argument . " We do n’t yet have intercourse how the account will stop . "
