{"id":8776,"date":"2014-09-10T15:22:18","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T19:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=8776"},"modified":"2014-09-10T15:22:18","modified_gmt":"2014-09-10T19:22:18","slug":"the-lithium-problem-and-messier-54","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=8776","title":{"rendered":"The Lithium Problem and Messier 54"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A new finding from the European Southern Observatory (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eso.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">ESO<\/a>):<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/news\/eso1428\/\" target=\"_d\">This Star Cluster Is Not What It Seems<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/images\/eso1428a\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"8777\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=8777\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/eso1428a1.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1280,1213\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;ESO&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;This image from the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO\\u2019s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile shows the globular cluster Messier 54. This cluster looks very similar to many others, but it has a secret. Messier 54 doesn\\u2019t belong to the Milky Way, but actually is part of a small satellite galaxy, the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy. This unusual parentage has allowed astronomers to use the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to test whether unexpectedly low levels of the element lithium in stars are also found in \\u00a0stars outside the Milky Way.&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1410350400&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;The globular star cluster Messier 54&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"The globular star cluster Messier 54\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;This image from the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO\u2019s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile shows the globular cluster Messier 54. This cluster looks very similar to many others, but it has a secret. Messier 54 doesn\u2019t belong to the Milky Way, but actually is part of a small satellite galaxy, the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy. This unusual parentage has allowed astronomers to use the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to test whether unexpectedly low levels of the element lithium in stars are also found in \u00a0stars outside the Milky Way.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/eso1428a1-1024x970.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-8777\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/eso1428a1-1024x970.jpg\" alt=\"The globular star cluster Messier 54\" width=\"520\" height=\"492\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/eso1428a1-1024x970.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/eso1428a1-300x284.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/eso1428a1.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This new image from the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO\u2019s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile shows a vast collection of stars, the globular cluster Messier 54. This cluster looks very similar to many others but it has a secret. Messier 54 doesn\u2019t belong to the Milky Way, but is part of a small satellite galaxy, the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy. This unusual parentage has now allowed astronomers to use the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to test whether there are also unexpectedly low levels of the element lithium in stars outside the Milky Way.<\/p>\n<div id=\"flashplayer\">Loading player&#8230;<\/div>\n<p><script src=\"http:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/archives\/djangoplicity\/shadowbox3\/libraries\/mediaplayer5\/jwplayer.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\nvar sdfile = 'http:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/archives\/videos\/medium_flash\/eso1428a.flv';var imagefile = 'http:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/archives\/videos\/videoframe\/eso1428a.jpg';var flashsrc = 'http:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/archives\/djangoplicity\/shadowbox3\/libraries\/mediaplayer5\/player.swf';var sharelink = 'http:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/videos\/eso1428a\/';var sharecode = '';var gaid = 'UA-1965004-1';var ipadfile = 'http:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/archives\/videos\/medium_podcast\/eso1428a.m4v';var mobilefile = 'http:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/archives\/videos\/medium_podcast\/eso1428a.m4v';var hdfile = 'http:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/archives\/videos\/hd_and_apple\/eso1428a.m4v';;\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><script src=\"http:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/archives\/djangoplicity\/js\/videoembed.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>This video takes you on a journey past the centre of the Milky Way<br \/>\nand far out the other side to the globular cluster Messier 54.<br \/>\nThis cluster looks very similar to many others, but it has a secret.<br \/>\nMessier 54 doesn\u2019t belong to the Milky Way, but actually is<br \/>\npart of a small satellite galaxy, the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy.<br \/>\nThe final close-up view comes from the VLT Survey Telescope<br \/>\nat ESO\u2019s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Milky Way galaxy is orbited by more than 150 <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Globular_cluster\">globular star clusters<\/a>, which are balls of hundreds of thousands of old stars dating back to the formation of the galaxy. One of these, along with several others in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), was found in the late eighteenth century by the French comet hunter <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Charles_Messier\">Charles Messier<\/a> and given the designation Messier 54.<\/p>\n<p>For more than two hundred years after its discovery Messier 54 was thought to be similar to the other Milky Way globulars. But in 1994 it was discovered that it was actually associated with a separate galaxy \u2014 the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sagittarius_Dwarf_Spheroidal_Galaxy\">Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy<\/a>. It was found to be at a distance of around 90 000 light-years \u2014 more than three times as far from Earth as the galactic centre.<\/p>\n<p>Astronomers have now observed <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Messier_54\">Messier 54<\/a> using the VLT as a test case to try to solve one of the mysteries of modern astronomy \u2014 the lithium problem.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the light chemical element lithium now present in the Universe was produced during the Big Bang, along with hydrogen and helium, but in much smaller quantities. Astronomers can calculate quite accurately how much lithium they expect to find in the early Universe, and from this work out how much they should see in old stars. But the numbers don\u2019t match \u2014 there is about three times less lithium in stars than expected. This mystery remains, despite several decades of work <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/news\/eso1428\/#1\">[1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Up to now it has only been possible to measure lithium in stars in the Milky Way. But now a team of astronomers led by Alessio Mucciarelli (University of Bologna, Italy) has used the VLT to measure how much lithium there is in a selection of stars in Messier 54. They find that the levels are close to those in the Milky Way. So, whatever it is that got rid of the lithium seems not to be specific to the Milky Way.<\/p>\n<p>This new image of the cluster was created from data taken with the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/teles-instr\/surveytelescopes\/vst\/\">VLT Survey Telescope<\/a> (VST) at the Paranal Observatory. As well as showing the cluster itself it reveals the extraordinarily dense forest of much closer Milky Way stars that lie in the foreground.<\/p>\n<h3>Notes<\/h3>\n<p><a name=\"1\"><\/a>[1] There are several possible proposed solutions to the riddle. The first is that the calculations of the amounts of lithium produced in the Big Bang are wrong \u2014 but very recent tests suggest that this is not the case. The second is that the lithium was somehow destroyed in the earliest stars, before the formation of the Milky Way. The third is that some process in the stars has gradually destroyed lithium during their lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new finding from the European Southern Observatory (ESO): This Star Cluster Is Not What It Seems This new image from the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO\u2019s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile shows a vast collection of stars, the globular cluster Messier 54. This cluster looks very similar to many others but it has a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=8776\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Lithium Problem and Messier 54<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-2hy","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14494,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=14494","url_meta":{"origin":8776,"position":0},"title":"ESO: VLT Survey Telescope makes gigapixel image of 3 giant star-making clouds","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A new report from the ESO (European Southern Observatory): VST Captures Three-In-One\u00a0 Two of the sky\u2019s more famous residents share the stage with a lesser-known neighbour in this enormous new three gigapixel image from ESO\u2019s VLT Survey Telescope (VST). 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In particular, the two galaxies at the top right of the frame are nicknamed \"the Eyes\".","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/eso1525a1-1024x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8778,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8776\/revisions\/8778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}