A Unique Star in the Outer Halo of the Milky Way

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
Number of authors
8
IAC number of authors
0
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.