Speaker
Prof.
Timothy Beers
(MSU)
Description
I summarize recent observational progress on measurement of the elemental
abundances of early generation stars, which have recorded
(and preserved) the first episodes of nucleosynthesis in the Galaxy.
I discuss two major recent surveys, one just completed, one just beginning.
The first, the Hamburg/ESO R-process-Enhanced Star (HERES) survey has
obtained ``snapshot'' high-resolution spectroscopy of nearly 400 giants
with [Fe/H] < -2.0, and is providing strong constraints not only on
elemental abundance patterns for metal-poor stars, but also on the
absolute frequency of various patterns, which must be accounted for
in models of Galactic Chemical Evolution. The second survey, the
Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE)
will obtain medium-resolution spectroscopy of some 250,000 stars in the
Milky Way, and is likely to detect some 20,000 stars with [Fe/H] < -2.0.
Primary author
Prof.
Timothy Beers
(MSU)
