A stellar corpse reveals the origin of the radioactive molecule in interstellar space

A team of ESO astronomers using for the first time ALMA and NOEMA discovered a radioactive molecule in interstellar space, an isotope of aluminum

With the help of the Atacama large millimeter / submillimeter network (ALMA) and the expanded grid system of the north (NOEMA), scientists were able to detect this source of aluminum 26. s isotope was dispersed in space after the collision of two stars, which left behind a remains known as CK Vulpeculae

The source, known as CK Vulpeculae, was observed for the first time in 1670, red "new star". Despite the fact that at first visible to the naked eye, he immediately scrambled and now requires powerful telescopes to see the remaining parts of this fusion, a diminished focal star surrounded by a radiance of glowing matter that went away from it.

After 348 years, astronomers have observed that the remaining parts of this explosive stellar fusion have sparked the reasonable and persuasive mark of a radioactive version of aluminum, known as aluminum-26. It is the first primitive radioactive molecule recognized outside the solar system.

Astronomers have detected the unique spectral signature of molecules composed of 26 aluminum and fluorine (26AlF) in the debris surrounding CK Vulpeculae, about 2000 years from Earth. As these particles rotate and tumble in space, they transmit a single fingerprint of a millimeter wavelength, a process known as the rotational transition. According to astronomers, this observation could help them better understand how CK Vulpeculae are formed

<img clbad = "size-full wp-image-15823" src = "https://www.techexplorist.com/wp- content / uploads / 2018/07 / sky-around-Nova-Vul-1670.jpg "alt ="] This wide-field view shows the sky around the location of the historic explosive star Nova Vul 1670 The remains of the nova are only very faintly visible in the center of this image.New observations made with APEX and other telescopes have now revealed that the star that European astronomers have seen does not appear. was not a nova, but a much rarer and violent breed of stellar collision.It was spectacular enough to be easily visible to the naked eye during its first explosion, but the tracks left were so weak that a very careful badysis using submillimeter telescopes was necessary before the mystery then finally be unraveled more than 340 years later.

Tomasz Kamiński, the team leader stated, "This first observation of this isotope in a star-shaped object is also important in the broader context of galactic chemical evolution. It also demonstrates that the deep, dense inner layers of a star, where heavy elements and radioactive isotopes are forged, can be flipped and sunk in space by stellar collisions. "

" We also observe the bowels. from a star torn three centuries ago by a collision. "

Parallel to this, the observation revealed that the aluminum-26 will rot firmer and in this procedure, one of the protons in the nucleus decays into neutron. In the middle of this procedure, the energized nucleus discharges a high vitality photon, which we see as a gamma ray.

Previously, gamma ray emission detection has shown that about two solar mbades are present in the body. Aluminum 26 are present in the Milky Way, but the process that created the radioactive atoms was unknown.With these new measurements, astronomers have definitely detected for the first time an unstable radioisotope in a molecule outside our system

Although the group has deduced that the generation of aluminum-26 by objects like CK Vulpeculae is not likely to be the major source of aluminum-26 in the Milky Way. # 26; Aluminum 26 in CK Vu lpeculae is about a quarter of Pluto's mbad, and since these occasions are so rare, it is deeply far-fetched that they are the only manufacturers of the isotope in the Milky Way. 19659003] The research is published in the journal Nature Astronomy.