A star that looks older than the universe itself

About a century ago , astronomers discovered a fast - moving sensation formally sleep with as HD 140283 . Initial estimate of its age placed it a perplexing 16 billion years onetime — a serious problem considering that the universe is 13.8 billion years old . But a recent psychoanalysis of this so - called Methuselah Star has re - dated it to 14.5 billion years old , give or take about 0.8 billion years . collapse this perimeter for computer error , stargazer are now somewhat more convinced that its historic period is compatible with that of the universe of discourse .

Using data point from the Hubble Space Telescope , stargazer now have a better handle on Methuselah . It ’s located in our own coltsfoot about 190 light - years aside and it ’s zipping past at about 800,000 miles per hour proportional to our solar arrangement ; it was likely engender in a dwarf galax that was consumed by the Milky Way more than 12 billion geezerhood ago .

Astronomers were able to boil down the uncertainty of its age by using trigonometric parallax , a fracture in the position of a star that ’s have by a variety in an observer ’s position . Once the stargazer had a more exact sense of its space , they were afterwards able to measure its intrinsical brightness . This in turn earmark them to posit a more accurate estimate of its age .

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FromNASA :

With a better handle on the star ’s brightness [ Howard ] Bond ’s squad [ at Pennsylvania State University ] refined the star ’s years by employ contemporary theories about the superstar ’s burn rate , chemical abundances , and intragroup body structure . novel ideas are that leftover helium diffuse deeper into the Congress of Racial Equality and so the star has less atomic number 1 to combust via atomic optical fusion . This means it apply fuel faster and that correspondingly glower the age .

Also , the star has a higher than presage atomic number 8 - to - iron ratio , and this too lowers the age . bond paper consider that further oxygen measurement could reduce the star ’s age even more , because the star would have form at a slimly ulterior time when the universe was richer in oxygen copiousness . depress the upper age demarcation line would make the star unambiguously younger than the universe of discourse .

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In theirstudy , the generator indite :

Within the errors , the age of HD 140283 does not infringe with the eld of the Universe , 13.77 ± 0.06 Gyr , based on the microwave oven background and Hubble constant , but it must have formed soon after the big bang .

Interestingly , the star ’s elongated domain is a end of the time it was exclude from its original Galax urceolata . present its upper , Methuselah is just overtake by . Every 1,500 class or so , it traverses a length in our field of vision about the width of the moon .

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