Chinese scientists discover lithium-rich star that could help explain how the universe evolved
A giant star located 4,500 light years from Earth offers new clues for astrophysicists
Chinese scientists have discovered the most lithium-rich giant star ever known, which could shed new light on how the universe evolved.
The new discovery has 3,000 times as much lithium as the sun yet its mass is just 50 per cent greater, astronomers from the National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) said in a study published on Monday in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy.
The unnamed star is a rarity – only one per cent of giant stars are lithium-rich – and located in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus, northwest of the centre of the Milky Way, about 4,500 light years from Earth, the study said.
It was discovered by analysing images captured by the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope in northern China.
The telescope, which has conducted regular surveys of the night sky since 2012, has helped scientists assemble the world’s largest database of celestial spectra, about 10 million images.