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Article: Starlight casts doubt on Big Bang details. (abundance of beryllium atoms)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- September 7, 1991
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Examining the faint light from an elderly Milky way star, astronomers have detected a far greater abundance of beryllium atoms than the standard Big Bang model predicts. Three somewhat younger stars show a similar anomaly, according to unpublished data from the same team. While the findings do not contradict the premise that the expansion of the universe began with giant explosion, they do raise questions about certain assumptions of the standard model, such as the notion that the cosmos began as a perfectly smooth mixture.
These landmark beryllium assays -- previously considered all but impossible in such ancient stars -- demonstrate that "such measurements ...