[ExI] Przybylski's Star

[Stuart LaForge]

While Boyajian's star and the cluster of periodically dimming stars that 
it is a part of is the source of much speculation on our lists, I would 
like to point out another weird star: Przybylski's star HD 101065.

https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.07260

While it has been shockingly weird since its discovery in 1961, 
scientists have yet to explain its weird properties or find another star 
quite like it. It is a type Ap star of 1.5 solar masses that spins 
unusually slowly. It is 1.5 billion years old and getting ready to exit 
the main sequence. It has the strangest stellar spectrum in the book. It 
has below average levels of iron for a star of its age, but check this 
out: it has actinides in it. What are actinides? They are the 
radioactive elements that we have always considered to manmade because 
they are often the radioactive waste products of our nuclear reactors: 
actinium, protactinium, neptunium, plutonium, americium, curium, 
berkelium, californium, and einsteinium.

And that last one einsteinium? Get this; it has a half-life of 3.5 or 22 
HOURS depending on the isotope! How does an element with a half-life 
measured in mere hours reach detectable levels in a 1.5 billion year old 
star? Is ET using the star to dispose of its radioactive waste? Strange 
no?

Stuart LaForge