Using satellite data that works like an ultrasound, scientists have come up with a way to determine the internal structure, age and different life stages of a star.
An international team of researchers has been monitoring the “heartbeats” of baby stars to test theories of how the Sun was born 4.5 billion years ago.
The team of 20 scientists describes how data from two space telescopes — the Canadian Space Agency’s MOST satellite and the French CoRoT mission — has unveiled the internal structures and ages of young stars before they’ve even emerged as full-fledged stars.
“Think of it as ultrasound of stellar embryos,” said University of British Columbia Professor Jaymie Matthews, MOST Mission Scientist and a co-author of the study.
“Stars can vibrate due to sound waves bouncing inside. We detect the sound vibrations across the vacuum of space by the subtle changes in stellar brightness. Then we translate the frequencies of those vibrations into models of the structures of those stars’ hidden interiors,” Matthews said.