The element tellurium probably originated in exploding stars, or supernovae, through a process by which nuclei rapidly capture neutrons and become heavier.
Ian Roederer of the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California, and his colleagues used the Hubble Space Telescope to detect signs of tellurium in three ancient stars in the halo of the Milky Way. Tellurium is the heaviest element for which production by rapid neutron capture, called the r-process, can be predicted using laboratory data.
The authors report that the observed levels of tellurium match earlier predictions made for the r-process in the Solar System. They conclude that tellurium and other heavy elements are produced predominantly by this process.
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Rare element from space. Nature 483, 8 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/483008b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/483008b
