Metallicity as a research area focuses on the quantitative study of the abundance, distribution, and evolution of elements heavier than helium in astrophysical systems, including stars, galaxies, and the interstellar and intergalactic media. It encompasses observational and theoretical investigations of chemical enrichment processes driven by stellar nucleosynthesis, supernova yields, inflows and outflows, and mixing in different environments. This field uses spectroscopic diagnostics, abundance ratios, and chemical evolution models to constrain star-formation histories, feedback efficiencies, and galaxy assembly, and to calibrate metallicity scales across cosmic time, thereby linking baryonic physics, cosmology, and structure formation in the universe.
For life to develop on a planet, certain chemical elements are needed in sufficient quantities. Phosphorus and nitrogen are essential. Phosphorus is vital for the formation of DNA and RNA, which store and transmit genetic ...
Astrobiology
Feb 9, 2026
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Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered a new dwarf galaxy, which received designation CAPERS-39810. Further investigation of CAPERS-39810 revealed that it is an extremely metal-poor galaxy. ...
Using the Baryons Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) spectrograph, astronomers have discovered five new carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). This is the first time such stars have been ...
A research team from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has conducted a study on the binary fraction of blue horizontal-branch (BHB) stars. Their findings, recently published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, ...
Astronomy
Oct 15, 2025
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Life is complicated, and not just in a philosophical sense. But one simple thing we know about life is that it requires energy, and to get that energy it needs certain fundamental elements. A new paper published in The Open ...
Astrobiology
Sep 2, 2025
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By analyzing the data from ESA's Gaia satellite, astronomers from the University of Chicago, Illinois and elsewhere, have identified a new ultra-metal-poor star. The newfound star, designated GDR3_526285, turns out to be ...
Our sun, like all stars, is made mostly of hydrogen and helium. They are by far the most abundant elements, formed in the early moments of the universe. But our star is also rich in other elements astronomers call metals: ...
Astronomy
Apr 17, 2025
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Exoplanets have captured the imagination of the public and scientists alike and as the search continues for more, researchers have turned their attention to the evolution of metallicity in the Milky Way. With this answer ...
Planetary Sciences
Jan 28, 2025
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Based on the data from the Magellan-Clay telescope in Chile, astronomers have performed a chemo-dynamical study of a very metal-poor star known as HE 2315−4240. Results of the study, published on the preprint server arXiv, ...
