I ate and ate. The white dwarf was fed by a nearby star until a thermonuclear explosion occurred.

For the first time, astronomers have been able to detect a supernova explosion in the radio spectrum, designated SN 2020eyj, according to a study published in the journal Nature. Space writes that this explosion occurred because the dead star took too much material from its companion, leading to a thermonuclear explosion.

in 24News Breaker. The technology emerged telegraph channel. Subscribe so you don’t miss the latest and exciting news from the world of science!

Using radio telescopes, astronomers were for the first time able to detect a type Ia supernova explosion using radio waves. As the observations showed, this explosion was different from other similar supernovae known to scientists.

Radio waves are produced when matter from the explosion of a star collides with extrastellar matter. As a result, electrons are accelerated to almost the speed of light and special radiation is produced, which can include radio waves. If a supernova explosion occurs where there is no extrastellar matter, then there will be no radio waves. Prior to this, this is exactly what happened in the type Ia supernova observations. But not right now.

La type supernova

When a type La supernova explodes, a uniform stream of light is produced, so scientists often use such explosions as “standard candles” to determine distances from Earth to distant objects and to measure the expansion rate of the Universe. .

But astronomers don’t fully understand how type Ia supernovae occur. The main theory is that a white dwarf star begins to absorb too much matter from a neighboring star of any kind and therefore explodes when this is too much. But a new study shows that these eruptions can take other forms, too.

This is a very unusual Type Ia supernova, according to the study’s authors. While ordinary Type Ia supernovae always explode with the same brightness, this explosion shows that there are different ways to destroy a white dwarf.

As the study shows, the explosion likely occurred because the white dwarf took in too much helium-rich material from its neighbor. And this new information led scientists to assume that the cosmic explosion was different from all its counterparts.

White dwarfs and the fate of the Sun

White dwarfs are not in vain dead stars that can sometimes turn into “zombies”. The fact is that white dwarfs appear as a result of the death of stars like the Sun. That is, the sun-like star will first grow to a very large size and then begin to dump its matter into space, leaving only the cooled core of the original star. The sun will end its life in this way after about 5 billion years.

Our star has no companions, however, but a neighbor, white dwarfs, can become “resurrected” when they begin to take their companion’s matter into themselves. In this way, it is believed that for a time, a thermonuclear reaction will be re-initiated inside the star, leading to even more absorption of matter from the neighboring star.

If the white dwarf doesn’t get a lot of matter for itself, it will remain an ordinary dead star, slowly cooling. But if it “overeats” its mass will reach a critical limit, which will lead to a supernova explosion. But exactly how and why this “overeating” occurs, astronomers do not yet know. That’s why scientists say observations in the radio range of supernovae can help to better understand this process.

On the brink of a supernova explosion is a red giant called Betelgeuse, located several hundred light-years from Earth. This star is believed to be dying slowly and therefore shows some signs that a powerful cosmic explosion may soon occur. The recent increase in the brightness of the star has brought back the rumors that a supernova explosion, which can be observed in all details from Earth, will occur soon. As already written Focusastronomers clarified the situation and talked about when to expect a supernova.

Moreover Focus He wrote that scientists have discovered a planet similar to Earth in size and mass. Preliminary data suggest that there may be liquid water on its surface. Given that the planet is located in a region of space where conditions exist for the emergence of life, scientists believe it may be on this new planet.