Recognizing the age of the stars

Using the Kepler space telescope and a new technique to determine the age of the stars with their rotation, astronomers have been able to know the age of a distant star cluster.

The research led by Soren Meibom, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, focused primarily on the star cluster called NGC 6811, one billion years in which girocronología (new method that accurately determines the ages of stars based on their speed of rotation) can have a major impact in understanding what is beyond our solar system.

In addition, the astronomers searched the glare caused by the dark markings that are equivalent to sunspots to fix the exact rotation of the stars. Aided by the Kepler telescope, designed specifically to measure the stellar brightness with high accuracy, it can also detect planets that block the light from a star slightly if they cross its surface.

"The rotation of a star decreases progressively with time, like a top (spinning object) on a table, and can be used as a clock to determine their age," says Meibom in a recent press conference the session 218 of the American Astronomical Society.

"We need to know the ages of stars and planets to assess whether extraterrestrial life could have evolved on these distant worlds," says Meibom about the importance of this study.

The researcher found rotation periods ranging from 1 to 11 days (massive stars that rotate faster and are hotter), compared with the speed of rotation of 30 days of our sun. More importantly, astronomers found a strong relationship between stellar mass and rotation rate.