Fission · 42 stars
42 stars
Measured
Roederer et al. Science 2023. 42 r-process-enhanced stars. Abundance correlations as fission fragments of transuranic nuclei.
ImageGROK IMAGINEGenerated
Forty-two old stars keep a chemical fingerprint of atoms heavier than uranium breaking apart, before those stars were born. A laboratory cannot run that experiment. The 42 is how many stars were in the study.
What it supports
A dated Science result. The 42 is the sample. The inference is fission. arXiv:2312.06844 matches the published paper.
What it does not
Not HD 222925’s 42 elements. That star is one inventory. This is a 42-star sample. Not proof of a 42-nucleus.
ExactnessExact
Form42
Unitcount
Strengthhard
When2023-12-07