Galactic fossil is 13.2 billion years old


	Galactic fossil is 13.2 billion years old

zephyr1

5-17-2007 7:41 AM

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tags:

star, universe, space, astronomy, galactic fossil

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/d30d48ce-c846-4fe0-bf2a-ff1b9d320bc5/B9992E3B-1656-44A4-89A7-FAF3B5DFC146/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1922042.htm?space" href="http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1922042.htm?space" style="font-size: 11px;">www.abc.net.au</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1922042.htm?space"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.abc.net.au/img/027E71D8-97A8-434C-80DC-B61859468437" alt="Big Bang" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1922042.htm?space"><DIV>Astronomers say a star in our galaxy is 13.2 billion years old, which makes it nearly as ancient as the universe itself.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1922042.htm?space"><DIV>The star, named HE 1523-0901, would have formed almost at the dawn of time, just a fraction after the birth of the universe 13.7 billion years ago.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1922042.htm?space"><DIV>An international group of astronomers, which includes researchers from the <A target="_blank" href="http://www.anu.edu.au/">Australian National University</A> and <A target="_blank" href="http://www.swinburne.edu.au/">Swinburne University of Technology</A>, publish the research in <A target="_blank" href="http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/ApJ/front.html"><I>Astrophysical Journal Letters</I></A>.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1922042.htm?space"><DIV>The astronomers used the <A target="_blank" href="http://www.eso.org/">European Southern Observatory</A>'s (ESO) powerful Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile to date the primitive star.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1922042.htm?space"><DIV>The telescope measured radioactive decay of the star's thorium and uranium over time.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1922042.htm?space"><DIV>As these heavy elements decay at a predictable rate (thorium's half-life is 14 billion years and uranium's is 4.5 billion years), astronomers can therefore calculate the star's age.</DIV></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/B9992E3B-1656-44A4-89A7-FAF3B5DFC146/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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