Bibcode
Lai, David K.; Rockosi, Constance M.; Bolte, Michael; Johnson, Jennifer A.; Beers, Timothy C.; Lee, Young Sun; Allende Prieto, Carlos; Yanny, Brian
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 697, Issue 1, pp. L63-L67 (2009).
Advertised on:
5
2009
Citations
36
Refereed citations
34
Description
As part of a program to measure abundance ratios in stars beyond 15 kpc
from the Galactic center, we have discovered a metal-poor star in the
outer halo with a unique chemical signature. We originally identified it
in the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration survey
as a distant metal-poor star. We obtained a follow-up spectrum using the
Echelle Spectrometer and Imager at the Keck 2 telescope, and measure
[Fe/H] =-3.17, [Mg/Fe] = -0.10, and [Ca/Fe] = +1.11. This is one of the
largest over-abundances of Ca measured in any star to date; the
extremely low value of [Mg/Ca] = -1.21 is entirely unique. To have found
such an unusual star in our small sample of 27 targets suggests that
there may be previously unobserved classes of stars yet to be found in
situ in the Galactic halo.
The data presented herein were obtained at the W.M. Keck Observatory,
which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California
Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible
by the generous financial support of the W.M. Keck Foundation.