A new study reveals that stars undergo periodic vibrations, producing sound waves that can be converted into music, and offers a breakthrough in understanding the evolution of our galaxy.
Stars are constantly singing – but scientists have to translate their songs. As a new study published in the journal Nature explains, stars undergo periodic vibrations that cause them to dim and brighten, producing sound waves that can be converted into music.
Understanding Starquakes and Stellar Fluctuations
Researchers led by Australian National University astroseismologist Claudia Reyes focused on 27 stars within the M67 star cluster, a massive database of star information. The team used data from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes to study the light frequencies emitted by these stars during their ‘starquakes.’ By analyzing these fluctuations, they discovered that at a certain point in their lengthy lifetimes – anywhere between a few million and tens of billions of years old – stars get stuck in a rut.
The Plateau Phase: A Star’s Midlife Crisis
As Reyes explained, an apparent midlife crisis leads to the wave fluctuations halting and being caught in a loop-like state. At this ‘plateau,’ a star will start ‘repeating itself like a broken record‘ before resuming its progression. According to Reyes, stars have multiple layers, similar to an onion, and the plateau occurs due to events in a specific layer of the star and at specific frequencies that are influenced by a star’s mass and metallicity.
A star's midlife crisis occurs when it exhausts its hydrogen fuel, causing a significant decrease in energy output.
This phase typically marks the end of a star's main-sequence life.
During this time, stars like our Sun expand into red giants, increasing their radius by up to 100 times.
The increased surface area leads to a substantial loss of heat and light, marking the beginning of the star's decline.
This process can take billions of years, depending on the star's mass.
Predicting Stellar Age Estimates
This discovery means that scientists can predict when and at what frequency the plateau will occur during a star’s life cycle. As a result, they can make extremely precise age estimates for stars currently in their plateau phase. This new tool is crucial for studying the evolution of our galaxy.
Stellar age prediction is a method used in astronomy to estimate the age of stars.
This is done by analyzing the star's luminosity, surface temperature, and composition.
The most common method is the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, which plots a star's luminosity against its surface temperature.
By comparing the star's position on this diagram with those of other stars, astronomers can estimate its age.
This technique has been used to study the life cycles of stars and understand their evolution over time.
The Cosmic Symphony: A New Frontier in Astronomy
While we may not have access to recordings of the M67 stellar melodies, a video from the National Science Foundation shared what some other star songs sound like. Beyond getting the incredible opportunity to listen to the symphony of the cosmos, Reyes‘ team’s discovery will be a helpful astronomy tool moving forward. This research helps us better understand how stars evolve and provides new insights into the evolution of our galaxy.
The study’s findings demonstrate the vast potential for understanding the universe through the observation of starquakes and stellar fluctuations. As we continue to explore the cosmos, we may uncover even more secrets hidden within the songs of the stars.
- futurism.com | Scientists Intrigued by Stars Singing Ancient Songs
