The Star That Should Not Exist

[n2doc]

ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2011) — A faint star in the constellation of Leo (The Lion), called SDSS J102915+172927 <1>, has been found to have the lowest amount of elements heavier than helium (what astronomers call "metals") of all stars yet studied. It has a mass smaller than that of the Sun and is probably more than 13 billion years old.

"A widely accepted theory predicts that stars like this, with low mass and extremely low quantities of metals, shouldn't exist because the clouds of material from which they formed could never have condensed," <2> said Elisabetta Caffau (Zentrum fur Astronomie der Universitat Heidelberg, Germany and Observatoire de Paris, France), lead author of the paper. "It was surprising to find, for the first time, a star in this 'forbidden zone', and it means we may have to revisit some of the star formation models."

The team analysed the properties of the star using the X-shooter and UVES instruments on the VLT <3>. This allowed them to measure how abundant the various chemical elements were in the star. They found that the proportion of metals in SDSS J102915+172927 is more than 20 000 times smaller than that of the Sun <4><5>.

"The star is faint, and so metal-poor that we could only detect the signature of one element heavier than helium -- calcium -- in our first observations," said Piercarlo Bonifacio (Observatoire de Paris, France), who supervised the project. "We had to ask for additional telescope time from ESO's Director General to study the star's light in even more detail, and with a long exposure time, to try to find other metals."

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110831155340.htm

[aquart]

1. Love it when science has to frantically rethink.

[ret5hd]

5. you must really love science then, 'cause that's what science IS.

[Ghost Dog]

6. Right on! n/t

[aquart]

7. Yup. Yup. Yup.

[laconicsax]

8. +1

[Ian David]

2. Here's my theory

This is the remnants of a star that went supernova and its entire cloud of ejected gas, dust and heavy elements were sucked away by a black hole or passing rogue star.

[AlecBGreen]

9. if that is true

wouldnt ONLY heavy elements be left behind?

[valerief]

3. Stars are just a theory according to the teabaggers. nt

[tridim]

4. Maybe a power source for a very advanced civilization?

Maybe it's being mined?

It is predicted that we will eventually harness star energy directly if we're lucky enough to survive a few million years.

[Ready4Change]

10. A white dwarf that was victim of a drive by?

Perhaps this was a regular white dwarf, originally a bit smaller than average, that had some mass ripped off by a close pass with another star? A small white dwarf would have some calcium, but could it have aged to that point of its life cycle by now?