Washington – Archyde.com
Astronomers have discovered a previously unknown type of stellar explosion called “micronova”, which involves thermonuclear explosions in the polar regions of a type of burning star called a “white dwarf” following drawing material from a companion star.
The researchers said Wednesday that the micronova is the least powerful type of star explosion known now, as it is less energetic than the explosion known as a “nova”, which occurs when the entire surface of the white dwarf explodes, and is small, compared to a “supernova” or “supernova”. What happens during the death of giant stars.
The “micronova” was observed from Earth in the form of flashes of light lasting regarding ten hours. And documented on three white dwarfs, one at a distance of 1680 light years from Earth, one at a distance of 3720 light years, and one at a distance of 4900 light years. A light year is the distance that light travels in a year, equivalent to 9.5 trillion kilometers.
“The discovery was an unexpected surprise,” said astronomer Simon Scaringi of Durham University in England, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature. Show how dynamic the universe is. These events are rapid and intermittent. Finding it requires looking at the right place at the right time.”
White dwarfs, which are among the densest objects in the universe, are caused by the collapse of the core of a dying star. White dwarfs have the mass of the Sun, but are regarding the size of Earth in diameter. Most stars, including the Sun, are destined to end their existence this way.
A micronova is similar to a nova, a thermonuclear explosion that engulfs the entire surface of a white dwarf. In the case of Nova, the white dwarf lacks a strong magnetic field, which means the hydrogen stolen from the companion star is distributed globally rather than concentrated at the poles.
Scaringi said a nova can last for weeks or months, burning through a mass a million times greater than a micronova.
The researchers discovered the “micronova” when analyzing data from the TESS space telescope. The researchers used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope to confirm that the eruptions involved white dwarfs.
Other types of starbursts include kilonovas, a phenomenon that occurs when two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole merge, and hypernova, a type of supernova in which a star explodes at the end of its life cycle and collapses to form a black hole.
