‘Old smokers’: Strange new type of star discovered in Milky Way

Nearing the tip of their life, they sit quietly for lengthy durations of time, barely noticeable, earlier than immediately puffing out a cloud of smoke.

A mysterious new kind of star nicknamed “outdated smoker” has been found hiding within the coronary heart of our Milky Way galaxy, astronomers revealed on Friday.

The “peculiar” puffing conduct of those stars has by no means been seen earlier than in such purple giants, astrophysicist Philip Lucas informed AFP.

The worldwide staff of scientists behind the invention had not been on the lookout for such outdated stars throughout their 10-year survey, which took in tons of of tens of millions of stars throughout the sky.

As an alternative, they had been utilizing the VISTA telescope within the Chilean Andes to seek for newborn stars—known as proto-stars—that are susceptible to frequent, exuberant eruptions.

They noticed 32 proto-stars, “the biggest quantity anybody has ever discovered earlier than in a single batch”, mentioned Lucas, a professor on the UK’s College of Hertfordshire and lead writer of a brand new research.

However lingering within the background was a “good shock”, he added.

‘We do not absolutely perceive’

The outdated people who smoke had been puffing proper within the middle of the Milky Way, a densely packed and metal-rich area known as the Nuclear Stellar Disc.

“What was stunning about this new discovery is that we’re seeing stars that had been simply sitting doing nothing in any respect,” Lucas mentioned.

Then abruptly the celebrities would develop into between 40 to 100 instances dimmer, generally so faint that the telescope’s infrared imaginative and prescient may barely spot them.

A few years later, seemingly with out warning, they’d return to their former brightness.

“Every part we’ve been in a position to study them means that this can be a case of stars throwing off puffs of smoke—for causes that we do not absolutely perceive,” Lucas mentioned.

These smoke puffs are thought to quickly obscure the celebrities from our sight.

There are lots of extra “heavy elements“—something heavier than hydrogen and helium—on this area of the galaxy, which may create extra dust within the star’s environment, Lucas mentioned.

Precisely what puffs that dust out stays a thriller.

But when this idea is appropriate, then the quantity of matter being thrown off by these stars may play a major position in how heavy components are unfold all through our galaxy—and past, he mentioned.

Lucas emphasised that these had been simply early finest guesses.

“We’re simply form of scrabbling round making an attempt to see what makes probably the most sense,” he mentioned.

The researchers noticed at the least 21 outdated people who smoke however suspect there are various extra on the market.

The research was revealed within the Month-to-month Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

© 2024 AFP