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[-] Zagorath@aussie.zone 58 points 4 days ago

In astronomy, nearly everything is hydrogen or helium. Like, over 98% of all matter is H or He. So it's very useful to be able to talk about H, He, and "everything else". They call that everything else "metals".

[-] Balthazar@lemmy.world 12 points 4 days ago

Some stellar atmosphere models also add "alpha", which provides an extra knob for the abundance of alpha-capture elements. If you need anything more than that, you're doing some niche astrophysics.

[-] Zagorath@aussie.zone 4 points 4 days ago

Alpha being the elements up to iron?

[-] Balthazar@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

Elements formed by alpha capture. Since alpha particles have 2 protons, it's generally elements with an even number of protons.

this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2025
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