Bibcode
Allende Prieto, C.
Bibliographical reference
New Horizons in Astronomy: Frank N. Bash Symposium ASP Conference Series, Vol. 352, Proceedings of the Conference Held 16-18 October, 2005 at The University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA, p.105
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9
2006
Citations
3
Refereed citations
1
Description
The determination of chemical abundances from stellar spectra is
considered a mature field of astrophysics. Digital spectra of stars are
recorded and processed with standard techniques, much like samples in
the biological sciences. Nevertheless, uncertainties typically exceed
20% and are dominated by systematic errors. The first part of this paper
addresses what is being done to reduce measurement errors, and what is
not being done, but should be. The second part focuses on some of the
most exciting applications of stellar spectroscopy in the arenas of
galactic structure and evolution, the origin of the chemical elements,
and cosmology.