HD 140283

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HD 140283

DSS image of HD 140283
Observation data
Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0
Constellation Libra[1]
Right ascension 15h 43m 03.09712s[2]
Declination −10° 56′ 00.5957″[2]
Apparent magnitude (V) 7.205±0.02[1]
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage
Halo subgiant[3]
Spectral type G0IV-V m-5[4]
Distance
200.5 ± 0.3 ly
(61.47 ± 0.10 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)+3.377[1]
Details
Gyr
HIP 76976, SAO 159459[7]
Database references
SIMBADdata
ARICNSdata

HD 140283 (also known as the Methuselah star) is a

light years away from the Earth in the constellation Libra, near the boundary with Ophiuchus in the Milky Way Galaxy. Its apparent magnitude is 7.205, so it can be seen with binoculars. It is one of the oldest stars
known.

HD 140283's light is somewhat

population II
) stars to Earth.

The star was already known by

spectrograph in the Mount Wilson Observatory.[9]

Age and significance

See also: List of oldest stars

Because HD 140283 is neither on the

age of the Universe as determined by the final 2018 Planck satellite results of 13.787±0.020 billion years.[1][11] However, more recent models of its stellar evolution have suggested revision of the star's age to 13.7 billion years[12] or 12 billion years.[5]

Dubbed the "

population III
are no longer observable.

Studies of the star also help astronomers understand the Universe's early history. Very low but non-zero metallicities of stars like HD 140283 indicate the star was formed from existing materials in the second generation of stellar creation; their heavy-element content is believed to have come from zero-metal stars (population III stars), which have never been observed.[16] Those first stars are thought to have been formed from existing materials a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, and they died in explosions (supernovae) after only a few million years.[16] A second generation of stars, the generation in which HD 140283 is theorized to have been formed from existing materials, could not have coalesced until gas, heated from the supernova explosions of the earlier stars, cooled down.[16] This hypothesis of such stars' birth and our best models of the early universe indicate that the time it took for the gases to cool was likely only a few tens of millions of years.[16]

The proportions of elements in such metal-poor stars is modelled to tell us much of the earlier

gravitational lensing in looking at deepest images such as the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (i.e., their brief existence before their turning into supernovae). As with HD 122563, CS22892-0052, and CD−38 245, HD 140283 has an excess of oxygen and the alpha elements relative to iron.[1] While the proportions of these elements is much lower in HD 140283 than in the Sun, they are not as low as is the case for iron. The implication is that the first population of stars generated the alpha elements preferentially to other groups of elements, such as the iron peak and s-process. Unlike those other metal-poor stars, HD 140283 has a detectable amount of lithium, a consequence of HD 140283 having not yet evolved into a red giant and thereby not yet having undergone the first dredge-up.[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g H. E. Bond; E. P. Nelan; D. A. VandenBerg; G. H. Schaefer; D. Harmer (2013). "HD 140283: A Star in the Solar Neighborhood that Formed Shortly After the Big Bang".
    S2CID 119247629
    .
  2. ^
    S2CID 244398875
    . Gaia DR3 record for this source at VizieR.
  3. ^
    S2CID 5920058
    .
  4. doi:10.1086/115195
    .
  5. ^
    S2CID 235166094
    . 117.
  6. ^
    doi:10.1093/mnrasl/sly010
    .
  7. ^ "HD 140283". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  8. doi:10.1086/145451
    .
  9. doi:10.1086/141924
    .
  10. ^ "Hubble finds birth certificate of oldest known star".
    Phys.Org
    . 2013-03-07. Retrieved 2013-03-07.
  11. S2CID 119335614
    .
  12. S2CID 18003446
    .
  13. ^ Crookes, David (16 October 2019). "How Can a Star Be Older Than the Universe? - Space Mysteries: If the universe is 13.8 billion years old, how can a star be more than 14 billion years old?". Space.com. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  14. Science Daily
    . 7 March 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  15. ^ D. Majaess (2013-02-23). "Nearby Ancient Star is Almost as Old as the Universe". Universe Today. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
  16. ^ a b c d R. Cowen (2013-01-10). "Nearby star is almost as old as the Universe". Nature.
    S2CID 124435627
    .
  17. ^ F. Spite; M. Spite (1982). "Abundance of lithium in unevolved halo stars and old disk stars - Interpretation and consequences".
    Bibcode:1982A&A...115..357S
    .
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