Research highlights the hidden processes at work deep in the stars

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Astronomers know that massive stars usually put an end to their lives in supernovae explosions. These explosions forge elements that we know about the periodic table. Astronomers say how the mix of elementary nuclei inside these huge stars has a significant impact on understanding the evolution of the stars before exploding. Knowing how these elementary nuclei in massive stars are one of the most important mysteries for scientists who study their structure and evolution.

A team of researchers led by May Gade Peterson has been able to measure the internal mixture in a collection of massive stars using wave observations from their interiors. Scientists have already used the technique, but this study is the first time it has been accomplished for a large group of stars at a time. The researchers know that the stars spend most of their lives merge hydrogen into the helium at the bottom of their hearts.

The fusion in particularly massive stars is highly concentrated in the center and leads to a turbulent convective core that is equated with a boiling water. Convection and other processes, including rotation, removes the ashes of kernel helium, the replacement of hydrogen from the star envelope allowing the stars to live longer than expected.

Astronomers believe that the mixture comes from various physical phenomena, including internal rotation and exciting internal seismic waves exciting plasma in the convection core. This theory has been described as widely not contracted by observations because it has occurred so profound in the star. The researchers used the study of stellar oscillations to directly direct the stellar interior and make comparisons for forecasts of stellar models.

The researchers were able to derive the internal mixture for a set of stars using asterosisism. Scientists say this is the first time this has been achieved and that this has been possible thanks to a new 26-star B sample slowly pulsating with stellar oscillations identified. These stars have all been discovered by the mission of Nasa Kepler. Future observations will be made with data collected in the TESS mission of NASA.