Asteroseismic investigation of HD 140283: The Methuselah star

¹ Stellar Astrophysics Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
² Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai‘i, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
³ Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
⁴ Sydney Informatics Hub, Core Research Facilities, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
⁵ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
⁶ STAR Institute, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium

^⋆ Corresponding author: lundkvist@phys.au.dk

Received: 7 July 2025
Accepted: 30 September 2025

Abstract

Context. HD 140283 is a well-studied metal-poor subgiant and a Gaia benchmark star, often used for testing stellar models due to its proximity, brightness, and low metallicity ([Fe/H]= − 2.3 dex).

Aims. Here we present the first asteroseismic analysis of HD 140283, providing improved constraints on its fundamental properties.

Methods. The star was observed by TESS in 20-second cadence during Sector 51. We extracted a custom light curve and performed a frequency analysis, revealing a rich spectrum of solar-like oscillations including mixed modes. These were combined with parameters from the literature to provide constraints on our model inference performed with BASTA.

Results. Using a dense grid of models, we find a mass of 0.75 ± 0.01 M_⊙, a radius of 2.078^+0.012_−0.011 R_⊙, and an age of 14.2 ± 0.4 Gyr, in agreement with the upper limit set by the age of the Universe within 1σ. The observed frequency of maximum power, (ν_max)_obs = 611.3 ± 7.4 μHz, is significantly higher than predicted from standard scaling relations ((ν_max)_mod = 537.2^+2.9_−1.8 μHz), extending known deviations into the metal-poor regime.

Conclusions. To our knowledge, the oscillations in HD 140283 have the highest ν_max of any metal-poor star to date, which will help to advance our understanding of oscillations in metal-poor stars in general. The results demonstrate the value of asteroseismology for precise age determination in old halo stars and taking custom abundances and opacities into account during the modelling is probably important for further improving models of such stars. In addition, a detailed characterisation of metal-poor stars, such as HD 140283, will also help advance our understanding of Population III stars and their impact on future stellar generations.