Aged Smokers Astronomers Discover Unknown Star Type

“Astronomers unearth a previously undiscovered celestial entity adrift in the cosmos” is a frequent news topic, yet it never fails to captivate. The most recent discovery introduces a novel category of stars – elderly red giants affectionately dubbed “Old Smokers” by the research team.

Paradoxically, the scientists embarked on a mission to examine recently formed stars. Their approach involved scrutinizing a decade’s worth of data from the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope (VISTA) in Chile, monitoring a vast section of the sky for luminosity variations over time. From this extensive dataset, they pinpointed 222 objects exhibiting the most pronounced brightness fluctuations, primarily recognizable as established event types. Subsequently, they scrutinized the spectra of the remaining candidates using the Very Large Telescope.

Unveiling the Dynamics of Rare Newborn Stars and Their Formative Challenges

“Our primary objective was to locate rarely observed newborn stars, also known as protostars, while they undergo significant outbursts lasting for varying durations—ranging from months to years or even decades,” explained Dr. Zhen Guo, a study co-author. “These outbursts occur within the slowly rotating disk of matter that forms a nascent solar system. While aiding the central newborn star’s growth, they pose challenges to the formation of planets. The reason behind the instability of these disks remains unclear.”

However, during the research, the team identified 21 peculiar stars near the galactic center displaying unusual variations in brightness. For instance, one star that was clearly visible in images from 2010 had completely disappeared by 2015. Merely three years later, it reappeared, albeit with diminished brightness.

Unearthing Unknown Celestial Entities with Peculiar Attributes

Upon analyzing the spectra of these stars, the researchers uncovered celestial entities previously undocumented in scientific literature. These objects appear to belong to a category of red giants – ancient stars that have depleted their fuel and are presently undergoing a gradual dying process. Remarkably, these stars exhibit a peculiar behavior of intermittently emitting substantial clouds of gas and dust, obstructing their light from observation. Hence, the designation “Old Smoker.”

“Remarkably, these elderly stars remain quiescent for extended periods, only to release clouds of smoke in a completely unexpected manner,” remarked Professor Dante Minniti, a study co-author. “They exhibit a very faint and red appearance for several years, to the extent that, at times, they become entirely invisible to us.”

Similar to an elderly storyteller eager to share tales with those willing to listen, these aged stars, despite their cantankerous nature, may still offer valuable insights to the younger cosmic generation. The expulsion of clouds from these celestial elders could potentially represent a previously undiscovered mechanism for the distribution of heavier elements throughout the universe, a process integral to the continuous cycle of star birth and death.

Stellar Contributions to Elemental Cycles

“Material ejected from aging stars plays a crucial role in the elemental life cycle, contributing to the formation of subsequent generations of stars and planets,” noted Professor Philip Lucas, the lead author of the study. “Traditionally, this phenomenon was primarily associated with a well-studied star type known as a Mira variable. However, the identification of a novel star type that releases matter may hold broader implications for the dispersion of heavy elements in the Nuclear Disc and metal-rich regions of other galaxies.”

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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