2023-05-25 22:25:00
It is hypothesized that supermassive stars that were millions of times brighter than the sun existed in the early universe.
The largest star observed so far is regarding 300 times the mass of the sun, but this star is said to be regarding 5,000 to 10,000 times.
This hypothesis explains the fact that close to 1 million stars that gather in a relatively small area to form a spherical ‘globular cluster’ were created in a similar environment, but have various chemical compositions and have been a mystery for decades. made for
| ▲ The GN-z11 galaxy captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. |
Chemical signals proving the existence of a ‘monster object’ that has existed only as a hypothesis have been announced as being captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) for the first time, drawing attention.
According to the University of Geneva, Switzerland, a European research team led by Dr. Corinne Charbonnel, a professor of astrophysics at the university, observed globular clusters of early galaxies with the Webb telescope and published the results in ‘Astronomy and Astrophysics’.
Dr. Charbonnel’s team previously presented the supermassive star hypothesis for the first time in 2018.
The existence of supermassive stars explains how stars in globular clusters formed at the same time and in the same gas cloud have different chemical compositions.
Stars like the sun only have a core temperature of regarding 15 to 20 million degrees Celsius, but many stars with elements such as aluminum that require a temperature of 70 million degrees Celsius have a core temperature of up to 75 million degrees Celsius. It was possible because the mass star made it.
The research team explained that the star collides with other stars in a chain in a densely packed globular cluster, becomes a ‘seed star’, absorbs surrounding materials, and then ejects them once more, providing materials for newly formed stars and having various chemical components. did.
The research team found evidence to support this in GN-z11, an early galaxy regarding 13.3 billion light years away.
This galaxy was first observed by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2015, and at one time held the record for the oldest galaxy.
Through Webb telescope observations, the research team confirmed that the globular clusters in the GN-z11 galaxy have an incredibly high density of stars and a lot of nitrogen.
The research team interpreted nitrogen as a chemical signal indicating the existence of a supermassive star, given that hydrogen must be burned at extremely high temperatures to make nitrogen, and such ultrahigh temperatures can only be reached in the nuclei of supermassive stars.
“Thanks to the data collected by the Webb telescope, we have found the first clue to the existence of these extraordinary stars,” Charbonnel said.
He said that if the supermassive star hypothesis is a ‘footprint’, this observation result is like finding a bone.
However, it has been suggested that there is not much possibility of directly observing supermassive stars.
The lifetime of a supermassive star is regarding 2 million years, so it is estimated that it exists only for a moment and disappears in terms of time in the universe, so it is difficult to observe even if indirect traces can be found.
Science Team press@jeonpa.co.kr
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