Posted on May 6, 2019 in Astronomy, Science
Blue supergiants are the rock-and-roll stars of the universe. They are massive stars that live fast and die young which makes them rare and difficult to study, even with modern telescopes. Before space telescopes, few blue supergiants had been observed, so our knowledge of these stars was limited.
The inner regions of the Milky Way have plenty of metals but are hazardous for life, while the outer regions of the thin disc are safer, but metal-poor and less likely to contain Earth-like planets. In between, there is the Galactic Habitable Zone GHZ, that is just right for life, with our Solar System sitting near its center. We live in a particularly favorable location in the Milky Way for life. We also live at a special moment in the Milky Way for life.
“Milky Way’s Sweet Spot” –Earth at Center of Galactic Habitable Zone
Until about 5 billion years ago, even apart from the shortage of metals needed for life’s origin, the activity of star birth and the supernovas would have made life hazardous. It has taken almost all of 5 billion years for intelligence to evolve on Earth, and if that is typical, we may be one of the first intelligent civilizations in our Galaxy. There is indeed something that appears to be unique about our place the Milky Way, in both time and space. And the presence of metals play a key role.
Metal factories of the universe
The blue supergiant stars, are the metal factories of the universe before they explode as supernovae, producing all chemical elements beyond helium in the Periodic Table of Mendeljev, whose 150-year anniversary will be celebrated this year.
Leading astrophysicist Dr. Tamara Rogers, from Newcastle University, UK, and her team have been working for the past five years to create simulations of stars like these to try to predict what it is that makes the surface appear the way it does. Image above is a snapshot of the interior of a blue giant three times as heavy as our sun which shows waves generated by turbulent core convection.
Fast Facts About Old Stars of the Universe
Modelling the interior of stars, the team predicted that gravity waves, like those we see in the ocean, could break at the surface of stars. A second type of wave had also been predicted. These coherent waves are similar to the seismic waves on earth, which are generated from deep within the star.
Now, using data collected by the NASA space telescopes, an international team of experts led by KU Leuven in Belgium, have observed the star for the first time and discovered that almost all of these elusive blue giants do in fact shimmer and ripple in brightness due to the presence of waves on their surface.
As predicted, the waves originate in their deep interior and provide exciting new prospects for studying these stars using asteroseismology, a similar technique to how seismologists use earthquakes to study the Earth’s interior.
Publishing their findings today in Nature Astronomy, the authors say that from observations of these waves, properties of the stars that are unobtainable from other astronomical techniques can now be studied.
“When we first started our simulations and predicted these waves could break at the surface we didn’t think it would ever be possible to observe them,” said Rogers. “Throughout the universe, stars come in different shapes, sizes and colors. Some stars are like our Sun and live calmly for billions of years. But massive stars live significantly shorter and more active lives before they explode in what is called a supernova and expel their material into space. In line with our predictions, these latest observations have confirmed two types of wave which give us different information about the star.
Fast Facts About Star-Forming Regions of the Universe
“Those which break at the surface, similar to the waves breaking on the beach, and the standing wave that just keeps on going and is similar to the seismic waves on earth. From these we can start to understand how the star is moving and rotating and the physics and chemistry of what is going on inside the deep interior, including the stellar core.
“Although we predicted these wave patterns, until now it was just that—a simulation of what might be going on. To actually see it and prove it is really quite an incredible moment for us.”
Telescopes are able to probe far into the universe, but astronomers have struggled to ‘see’ inside the stars. It is only recently with modern space telescopes that astronomers have begun to unlock the interiors of stars by listening to the symphony of sounds that they generate.
Fast Facts About Moving Groups of Stars in the Milky Way
Lead author Dr. Dominic Bowman from the KU Leuven Institute of Astronomy, explains: “Before the NASA Kepler/K2 and TESS space telescopes, few blue supergiants that vary in brightness because of waves were known. But if you look at the brightness of an individual star for long enough with a very sensitive detector, you can map out how it changes over time. In asteroseismology—the study of waves inside stars—we use these variations to probe the physical and chemical processes inside the stars.”
The discovery of waves in so many blue supergiant stars was a Eureka moment, says Bowman. “The variability in these stars had been there all along, we only had to be patient and wait for modern space telescopes to observe them.
“We are now entering a golden age of asteroseismology of hot massive stars thanks to modern space telescopes. The discovery of these waves in blue supergiants allows us to study the progenitors of supernovae from a novel perspective,” says Dr. Bowman.
The Daily Galaxy, Jake Burba, via Newcastle University
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