How supernovae explode, and get their brightness
13 years, 7 months ago

How supernovae explode, and get their brightness

The Hindu  

Scientists have made an important step toward understanding the details of how Type Ia supernovae explode and the origin of their immense luminosity. The widely accepted theory is that Type Ia supernovae are thermonuclear explosions of a white dwarf star in a close binary system. Now, a team of researchers has examined new and detailed observations of 41 of these objects and concluded that there are clear signatures of gas outflows from the supernova ancestors, which do not appear to be white dwarfs "If the star system originally contained two white dwarfs before the supernova, then there shouldn’t be any sodium,” remarked Nidia Morrell of the Carnegie Observatories. The astronomers also ruled out other possible sources of the sodium absorption features including interstellar clouds or a galactic—scale wind blown by the host galaxy. "Typically, gas with these characteristics is attributed to the stellar wind blown by red giant companion stars, not white dwarfs,” he concluded.

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History of this topic

Scientists predict the explosion of a white dwarf by the end of March, a once-in-a-lifetime event that happens once in 80 years
1 week, 5 days ago

Scientists predict the explosion of a white dwarf by the end of March, a once-in-a-lifetime event that happens once in 80 years

Op India  

In a rare cosmic phenomenon, a star in the ‘Northern Crown’ constellation located 3000 light years away from the Earth, is likely to explode to form a ‘nova’. According to reports, a paper published in Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society predicted three dates for the explosion of the star this year – March 27, November 10 or June …

Isro's AstroSat catches never-before-seen nuclear explosion in Andromeda Galaxy
3 months, 3 weeks ago

Isro's AstroSat catches never-before-seen nuclear explosion in Andromeda Galaxy

India Today  

For the first time, astronomers have detected far-ultraviolet emissions from novae — sudden, bright explosions on stars—during their outbursts in the Andromeda galaxy, our closest large galactic neighbour. Using data from the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope aboard ISRO’s AstroSat satellite, the researchers identified ultraviolet emissions from 42 novae, including four caught in the act of erupting. “UVIT’s unique ability to observe …

Star Survives Supernova, Becomes Brighter Leaving Scientists Perplexed
2 years, 9 months ago

Star Survives Supernova, Becomes Brighter Leaving Scientists Perplexed

News 18  

A supernova is a massive explosion of a star, leaving behind nothing of it. However, recently, scientists were taken by surprise when they found that the supernova didn’t destroy the star and made it brighter. After observing a supernova of such a star through the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists witnessed that a star remained alive even after the explosion and …

White dwarf star explosion that made it 60 times hotter than sun seen for very first time
2 years, 10 months ago

White dwarf star explosion that made it 60 times hotter than sun seen for very first time

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A fiery nova explosion from a white dwarf star that made it at …

Amateur astronomers help capture stellar explosion close to cosmic speed limit
2 years, 11 months ago

Amateur astronomers help capture stellar explosion close to cosmic speed limit

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thanks to amateur astronomers, new technology, and a fast response by professional observers, …

Astronomers discover new type of stellar explosion called micronova
2 years, 11 months ago

Astronomers discover new type of stellar explosion called micronova

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A newly-discovered kind of stellar explosion could be commonplace in the universe and …

Astronomers discover new type of star that science cannot yet explain
3 years, 1 month ago

Astronomers discover new type of star that science cannot yet explain

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “We believe the stars discovered by our German colleagues might have formed in a very rare kind …

Supergiant star explosion seen live by astronomers in unprecedented breakthrough
3 years, 2 months ago

Supergiant star explosion seen live by astronomers in unprecedented breakthrough

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Scientists have watched live as a red supergiant star came to its dramatic …

Supernova seen hurtling through our galaxy after thermonuclear explosion
4 years, 8 months ago

Supernova seen hurtling through our galaxy after thermonuclear explosion

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Scientists have spotted a white dwarf star hurtling across our galaxy after a …

White dwarf star was flung across our galaxy by an unobserved type of supernova
4 years, 8 months ago

White dwarf star was flung across our galaxy by an unobserved type of supernova

CNN  

CNN — A white dwarf star has been sent zooming across our Milky Way galaxy thanks to the blast from a unique kind of supernova that it managed to survive, according to a new study. A new analysis of the white dwarf, including data from the Hubble Space Telescope, has revealed that the star only experienced a partial supernova before …

Scientists find mysterious origin of brightest explosion ever seen in the universe
5 years, 2 months ago

Scientists find mysterious origin of brightest explosion ever seen in the universe

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. "It became even more exciting when it quickly turned out that very large amounts of iron was …

Researchers develop theory behind Supernova, explosion of stars in space
5 years, 4 months ago

Researchers develop theory behind Supernova, explosion of stars in space

India TV News  

Researchers develop theory behind Supernova, explosion of stars in space In a bid to know Supernova facts, researchers has put forth a theory that will help us understand how nuclear reactions trigger an explosion of stars and what happens during and after a supernova. In a first, researchers have developed a theory describing how the nuclear reaction behind supernovae -- …

WHAT IS A SUPERNOVA AND HOW DOES IT FORM?
7 years, 1 month ago

WHAT IS A SUPERNOVA AND HOW DOES IT FORM?

Daily Mail  

Many elements found on Earth are made in the core of stars and these elements travel on to form new stars, planets and everything else in the universe. Read articles that feature this panel The death of a star: 'Unprecedented' image of a supernova 80 million light years away is captured for the first time by an amateur. Astronomers baffled …

Scientists capture incredible images of white dwarf reigniting and exploding
10 years, 7 months ago

Scientists capture incredible images of white dwarf reigniting and exploding

Daily Mail  

It is a blaze of glory rarely seen in the universe. The 'smoking gun' in this case was evidence for radioactive nuclei being created by fusion during the thermonuclear explosion of the white dwarf star. Astronomers using ESA's Integral gamma-ray observatory now say they have demonstrated beyond doubt that dead stars known as white dwarfs can reignite and explode as …

Mystery of the super-bright supernova solved: Hidden galaxy acted as a MAGNIFYING GLASS to enhance its light
10 years, 11 months ago

Mystery of the super-bright supernova solved: Hidden galaxy acted as a MAGNIFYING GLASS to enhance its light

Daily Mail  

Mystery of the super-bright supernova solved: Hidden galaxy acted as a MAGNIFYING GLASS to enhance its light An extremely bright supernova spotted in 2010 may have been an illusion PS1-10afx was unusual as it was 30 times brighter than similar explosions This baffled astronomers and hinted at a new type of supernova But new research has revealed that a hidden …

White dwarf explodes in the galaxy next door: Type 1a supernova spotted in Galaxy M82
11 years, 2 months ago

White dwarf explodes in the galaxy next door: Type 1a supernova spotted in Galaxy M82

The Independent  

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Named after its nearest galaxy, supernova M82 looks to be the brightest of its kind …

KABOOM! Nearby Galaxy M82 Hosts a New Supernova!
11 years, 2 months ago

KABOOM! Nearby Galaxy M82 Hosts a New Supernova!

Slate  

I woke up to some great science news: A supernova has gone off in the nearby galaxy M82! The third, which is a recent idea, is that there are actually three stars in the system, a normal star and two white dwarfs. All three scenarios involve very old stars, since it can take billions of years for a normal star …

NASA astronomers unravel secret of the supernova
15 years, 1 month ago

NASA astronomers unravel secret of the supernova

The Hindu  

Supernovas have long been used as “cosmic mile markers” to measure the expansion of the universe, but NASA scientists now claim that they have finally discovered what actually sparks the massive stellar explosions. A team of astronomers led by Marat Gilfanov used NASA’s Chandra X-Ray laboratory to study supernovas in five nearby elliptical galaxies and the central region of the …

Dwarf merging makes for an explosive combo
15 years, 1 month ago

Dwarf merging makes for an explosive combo

Slate  

Type Ia supernovae are very important exploding stars. Astronomers have always assumed that the accretion scenario is the far more common of the two, because it takes a long time for two dwarfs to merge, whereas accretion can happen easily if a dwarf happens to be paired up with a normal star. In other words, their observations strongly favor the …

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