Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
A newly discovered star, designated J0524-0336, is found to be 30 times the size of the sun and is located about 30,000 light-years from Earth. This discovery could lead to significant revisions in current stellar evolution theories.
The star J0524-0336 has an unusually high concentration of lithium, much higher than what is expected in stars at its stage of evolution. This challenges existing models of how stars evolve and produce heavier elements through nuclear fusion.
Lithium is a light element typically lost during the nuclear fusion process as stars age, replaced by heavier elements like carbon and oxygen. The presence of such a high amount of lithium in J0524-0336 is contrary to these established theories.
J0524-0336 was identified during a survey for older stars in the Milky Way. As an “evolved star,” it is currently in the later stages of its life, expanding in size and brightness.
Using spectroscopy, researchers analyzed the star’s light spectrum to determine its chemical composition. The findings showed J0524-0336 contains 100,000 times more lithium than the sun does at its current age.
Scientists propose that the star may be in an unobserved stage of stellar evolution, or it could have absorbed a lithium-rich planet or star, which could explain the high lithium levels.
The research team plans to continue observing J0524-0336 to determine whether the lithium abundance is due to a new internal process in the star or external factors such as the absorption of another celestial body.
Future studies will focus on detecting dust buildup in the star’s circumstellar disk. This could indicate a mass loss event, such as a stellar interaction, or confirm that an unknown internal process is responsible for the lithium enrichment. The research has been published on arXiv and will appear in The Astrophysical Journal.