Unique and stunning! Amazing GOLD star found in the Milky Way Galaxy

Astronomers have found a unique star that has the widest range of elements in the Milky Way Galaxy! A study led by University of Michigan astronomer Ian Roederer has been able to find not just one or two but a total of 65 elements in the star, HD 222925. Even 42 of them are known to be heavy elements that are usually found at the bottom of the periodic table of elements. The presence of these wide range of elements in a single star will unlock the way for astronomers to understand the “rapid neutron capture” process, which is one of the major ways by which heavy metals in the universe were created.

“To the best of my knowledge, that’s a record for any object beyond our solar system. And what makes this star so unique is that it has a very high relative proportion of the elements listed along the bottom two-thirds of the periodic table,” Roederer said to Phy.org. He even mentioned that this unique star carries strands of gold metal. He explained that these elements were made by the rapid neutron capture process. This is what astronomers are trying to study to understand how, where and when these elements were made in the universe.

How will the Gold star help to understand the formation of metals in the Universe?

There is a process called the “r-process,” which begins with the presence of lighter elements from the periodic table, for example, iron. The nuclei of the lighter elements are then bombarded with neutrons in a fraction of a second. Heavier elements like selenium, silver, tellurium, platinum, gold, and thorium, like the ones seen in HD 222925, are produced, according to the astronomers, and are rarely observed in stars.

The metal elements found in HD 222925 were created by large supernovae or neutron star mergers very early in the universe, the data by Roederer and his team showed. The material was blasted into space and reconstituted into the star.