The secret in the search for exoplanets the amount of lithium of stars

2010/02/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

The Canary Institute of Astrophysics proposes a faster way to know if stars at the height of the Sun have planets: to look at the amount of lithium in the atmosphere of stars. In fact, they have seen that stars with planets have much less lithium in the atmosphere than those with no planet. For the first time they saw this feature on the Sun: they realized it had 140 times less lithium than the stars of its size. From there, another 24 stars with planets have been analyzed, of which 22 have seen the same phenomenon.