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Helium in stellar atmospheres

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Abstract

Helium, which was first discovered on the sun with the help of spectral analysis, plays, together with hydrogen, a principal role in astrophysics. We consider here two fundamental quantities: primordial helium abundance formed during Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the current initial helium abundances in nearby stars. It is shown that stellar atmospheres are enriched in helium during the main-sequence stage. Observational evidence for helium contamination in close OB-binaries is discussed. Stars with strong abundance anomalies are considered, such as chemically peculiar Ap and Bp helium-deficient stars and some types of objects with helium atmospheres.

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  1. Crimean Astrophysical Observatory Research Institute, Nauchnyi, 98409, Crimea, Ukraine

    L. S. Lyubimkov

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Original Russian Text © L.S. Lyubimkov, 2010, published in Kinematika i Fizika Nebesnykh Tel, 2010, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 32–51.

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Lyubimkov, L.S. Helium in stellar atmospheres. Kinemat. Phys. Celest. Bodies 26, 169–180 (2010). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0884591310040045

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