STARS’ MELODIES DECODE MILKY WAY EVOLUTION: AUSTRALIAN STUDY

Fri 04 April 2025:

A recent Australian study has shed fresh light on stellar evolution by examining the “sounds” of stars in a cluster 2,700 light-years from Earth.

Published in Nature on Wednesday, this breakthrough offers astrophysicists a new method to chart the past and future of the Milky Way and beyond, according to researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), who spearheaded the work.

By studying the oscillation frequencies of these stars using data from the space telescope Kepler K2 mission, researchers have developed a precise method to determine the age and mass of a star.

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Much like musical instruments, stars “ring” at specific frequencies depending on their internal structure, said co-author Dennis Stello from the UNSW School of Physics.

“The biggest stars have the deepest sounds. Small stars have high-pitched sounds. And no one star plays just the one note at once — each star covers a symphony of sound coming from its interior,” Stello said, adding the process is like listening to an orchestra, and identifying instruments based on their sound.

“This is the first time we have really studied such a long range of evolutionary sequences, like we have in this cluster,” he said.

The study examined 27 stars from M67, a cluster formed 4 billion years ago. Despite their similar chemical compositions, variations in mass made them ideal for studying evolution in real-time, said Claudia Reyes, the study’s lead author.

Because M67 stars share similarities with the Sun, this research provides crucial insights into the Sun’s past and its eventual transformation into a red giant, researchers said.

Reyes said that these findings were unexpected and suggest new avenues for analyzing existing astronomical data.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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