For the first time, astronomers have detected lithium in a stellar explosion, a discovery that could help scientists better understand the Milky Way's chemical composition.
Published in The Astrophysical Journal, the new study details observations of the Nova Centauri made in 2013 at La Silla Observatory at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Santiago, Chile.
For their observations, the astronomers used La Silla's the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, as well as the ESO 0.5-metre telescope at the Observatory of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.
"It is a very important step forward. If we imagine the history of the chemical evolution of the Milky Way as a big jigsaw, then lithium from novae was one of the most important and puzzling missing pieces. In addition, any model of the Big Bang can be questioned until the lithium conundrum is understood," study co-author Massimo Della Valle said in a press release.
The brightest nova of the century thus far, Nova Centauri ejected lithium at two million kilometers per hour, the first time the element has been detected in a nova. While the total amount of lithium that came out of the nova is relatively small, it explains why the element has appeared unaccounted for in the universe.
"It is very exciting," study lead author Luca Izzo, of Sapienza University in Rome, said in the release, "to find something that was predicted before I was born and then first observed on my birthday in 2013!"
