Heavy Metals

[Fallingstar1971]

RE: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0 ... ments.html

Is there a lower limit as to how much material is required for these scopes to detect?

What the smallest amount of heavy metal detected by these scopes?

I know the article said that many many supernovas were required to make the metals detected, but whats the least amount of detectable material?

Star

 

[neilsox]

Since amounts are rarely mentioned my guess is we don't know. Under very favorable conditions one part per million may produce a detectable line. If conditions are unfavorable 5% may not even produce a detectable line. It depends on the density, temperature and element, ion or radical being detected. For cold nebulas, the light source can skew the results. The apparent composition may change in a day or even one hour.
I've heard it said that nearly all the elements have been detected in our sun. so likely some are detectable at less than one part per million, under rare conditions. Neil