A group of astronomers and
engineers want to duplicate the atmosphere of a red giant just like the one
that you are seeing in above Hubble image, right here on PlanetEarth. To make
this take place, project Nanocosmos will construct three five-meter-long
machines operational with hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, , titanium, iron,
silicon and further metals at 1500 C (2732 F). “For the first time,
Nanocosmos will design and build a machine capable of producing insterstellar
dust grains emulating the physical and chemical conditions of the outer layers
of dying stars. “Speaking to newspaper El Mundo, astronomer José Cernicharo, who
aimed the research beside with material science professor José Ángel Martín and
astrophysicist Christine Joblin, said that it is a complex project, but totally
achievable. HE further said:
“In a manner of speaking, we
want to bring a star to the laboratory. Obviously, it's a very complicated
object. We are not going to reproduce the star itself but only its atmosphere,
the place where interstellar dust is formed. How can we do this? By building
simulation chambers, two in Spain and one in France, to study the different
physical and chemical processes that make these small particles of interstellar
dust.” The dust particles that form about
dying stars are emitted to the stellar medium where, millions of years later,
they blend in with new interstellar clouds that give birth to planets and stars,
few rocky like Planet Earth. We know their configuration but not their
structure or the essential process that form them. The project Nanocosmos will hire
40 engineers and astronomers all over the world, as well as the ALMA telescope
in Chile and numerous radio telescopes round the world.
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