Why does the star “J0524-0336” puzzle researchers?

A newly discovered star poses a mystery to astronomers. It contradicts all theories about the formation of these celestial bodies.

Steve Hack / T-Online

The older and larger a star is, the more heavy elements like carbon and oxygen it contains. So much for theory. Now a newly discovered star is turning that scientific assumption on its head and forcing researchers to rethink. A study conducted by a team of astronomers shows that.

The star, called J0524-0336, is about 30 times more massive than our Sun, wrote researchers led by Rana Ezzeddine and Jeremy Kokbani of the University of California, Berkeley.

An artistic representation of a luminous celestial body.Image: Shutterstock

Despite their massive size, they contain an extremely high concentration of the light element lithium, which shouldn't be present in such quantities. Scientists previously assumed that when stars burn out, they replace lighter elements like lithium with heavier ones.

Several theories about the high lithium content

“We find that J0524-0336 contains approximately 100,000 times more lithium than the Sun at its current age,” the researchers wrote. This, they say, calls into question prevailing models of star formation and could point to an unknown mechanism for lithium production or storage in stars.

Scientists are immediately offering possible explanations for the high lithium content in J0524-0336. One theory: A lithium-rich planet recently swallowed by the massive star could be responsible for the high element content. Another possibility is that the star is going through a previously unobserved evolutionary phase.

The researchers believe it could be either possibility, given the massive amount of lithium present. To confirm this theory, they want to conduct more research.

This is how spectroscopy works.

How can we know the composition of planets and other stars? To do this, researchers used the method of spectroscopy. Using a spectrometer attached to the telescope, the light captured from a celestial body can be divided into its different colors.

These colors reveal the number and individual components of the elements that make up the celestial body. Using this method, researchers are also looking for signs of oxygen, water and methane in the atmospheres of other planets in order to find extraterrestrial life.