3 ms·
> This is really weird. No known isotope of promethium has a half-life longer than 17.7 years, meaning that it must be produced by some continuous process if we
by seeknotfind 2y ago
> This is really weird. No known isotope of promethium has a half-life longer than 17.7 years, meaning that it must be produced by some continuous process if we are to see it in Przybylski's star. Further analysis showed it contains actinium, protactinium, neptunium, plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, californium, and einsteinium. These are difficult to confirm because they do not occur in nature (except, it seems, in Przybylski's star).
They're searching for natural explanations to rule out alien life. Very very cool. Quite a variety. Lots to learn from this star.
- jfengel 2y agoIt's hard to imagine why alien life would be doing this. They'd have to produce a vast amount of this stuff, and then instead of using it for whatever alien-tech they've got, they release it to float around in gaseous form. It's not impossible. It's just so bizarre that I'd consider practically any naturalistic explanation to be more likely.