[BBC] - Kepler star trio find is mystery to astroseismologists

867 Views 8 Replies 9 Participants Last post by i_hax, Apr 9, 2011

Lampen

Discussion Starter · Apr 8, 2011

Quote:

The graceful dance between three stars seen by the Kepler telescope has drawn the attention of astronomers because it is not accompanied by a song.

Most stars are known to generate great booming sounds in their interiors, and Kepler can spot the resulting change in the light that they emit.

However, astronomers reporting in Science say a red giant they have spotted is unexpectedly quiet.

HD181068A is orbited by two smaller, red dwarf stars that orbit each other.

The study of the sounds within stars is known as astroseismology, and a separate report in Science details the findings of more than 500 stars whose deep rumblings Kepler has measured.

As convection processes within stars move masses of material up from the core, great pressure waves - in essence, sound waves of very low frequency - are created.

As the gases are compressed and rarefied, temperature changes lead to changes in the light that escapes the stars.

The sounds within the stars, and the clues they give into the stars' makeup, can be inferred from these small changes in the "light curves" that telescopes such as Kepler measure.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12990213

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X-Nine

· #2 · Apr 8, 2011

That's pretty awesome. Never knew "astroseismology" existed. Pretty interesting read.

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hollowtek

· #3 · Apr 8, 2011

Wow, trinary stars! I wonder how these work?...

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Opeth07

· #4 · Apr 8, 2011

I only learned about the transiting and doppler methods, although I do remember astroseismology but not used like this.

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Shadowrunner340

· #5 · Apr 8, 2011

Asteroseismology is a relatively new discipline in the field of astrophysics. In fact, the first satellite dedicated to it was launched in 2003 by the Canadians.

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aroc91

· #6 · Apr 8, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by XNine

That's pretty awesome. Never knew "astroseismology" existed. Pretty interesting read.

Starquakes are pretty crazy. The calculated energy of a starquake is obscene. You can't even imagine the amount of energy they put out.

inb4hurrdurrwikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_scale

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGR_1806-20

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