Astronomers Using the European Southern Observatorys Very Large Telescope Spot Tiniest Starquake Ever
An international team of astronomers studying orange dwarf stars has recorded the tiniest starquake, or stellar oscillation ever.
The Debrief 1:28 am on April 11, 2024
Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope discovered the smallest starquake ever recorded on a cool dwarf star named Epsilon Indi. With a surface temperature roughly 1000 degrees Celsius cooler than the Sun, this starquake provides valuable data about the interior composition of the star and opens up a new domain in observational astrophysics. The team used the telescope's ESPRESSO spectrograph to detect and measure the tiny starquake with unprecedented precision. This discovery could aid planners of ESA's upcoming PLATO mission, which is tasked with searching for habitable planets around cool dwarf stars.
- Astronomers discovered the tiniest starquake ever on a cool dwarf star named Epsilon Indi using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope
- Starquakes reveal valuable data about a star's interior composition, and this discovery is a huge step forward for asteroseismology
- The team used the ESPRESSO spectrograph to detect and measure the tiny starquake with unprecedented precision
- This discovery could aid planners of ESA's upcoming PLATO mission, which is tasked with searching for habitable planets around cool dwarf stars
- The mismatch between the predicted and observed sizes of these stars has implications for finding planets around them, making precise asteroseismology important
https://thedebrief.org/astronomers-using-the-european-southern-observatorys-very-large-telescope-spot-tiniest-starquake-ever/