Nitrogen synthesis and the "age" of galaxies.
Abstract
Summary. We suggest that recent observations of the [N/O] abundance ratio in external galaxies can be understood if nitrogen is a primaty nucleosynthesis product, manufactured principally in stars of l-2.5M0. The [N/O] ratio of a galaxy then becomes an indicator of the time that has elapsed since the bulk of star formation occurred, or in other words the nominal `age' of the galaxy.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- December 1978
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/185.1.77P
- Bibcode:
- 1978MNRAS.185P..77E
- Keywords:
-
- Galaxies:Ages;
- Galaxies:Nitrogen;
- Nitrogen:Nucleosynthesis