Question

How are chemically peculiar stars identified?

Answer 1

Chemically peculiar stars are hot main sequence stars which show unusual abundances of elements.

Explanation:

Chemically peculiar (CP) stars are usually hot main sequence stars. The show unusual abundances of certain elements, particularly heavy metals. They often have strong magnetic fields. They also tend to have slow rotational speeds.

They show unusual abundances of ionised heavy metals such as mercury and manganese.

One category of CP star show unusually low abundance of helium.

CP stars are identified by analysing their spectra and looking for unusually strong or weak lines associated with heavy metals.