Stars are not fixed and unchanging, as many ancient people thought. Sometimes a star appears where it was not before, and then disappears within a few days or weeks. The earliest record of such a “guest star,” as it was called by ancient Chinese astronomers, is that of a star that suddenly appeared in the… Read More »
If you were attacked by a greedy vampire star or risked falling into two dueling black holes, you’d probably run away too! One of these terrifying scenarios is likely responsible for sending a low-mass star across the Milky Way at a staggering million miles per hour (1.6 million kilometers per hour). This is approximately 1,500… Read More »
What happened after the thermonuclear explosion? binary star System observed approximately 3,400 light-years away Hubble space telescope. HM Sagittae, or HM Sge for short, is a system known as the symbiotic system. white dwarf feeding on a friend red giant star. The stolen material forms an accretion disk orbiting the white dwarf. If too much… Read More »
A rare burst of light from a dead star will likely be visible to humans. Soil This summer, a temporary but potentially harsh celestial spectacle will occur that scientists are calling a “once-in-a-lifetime event.” The technical term for the upcoming cosmic explosion is nova; This occurs when a white dwarf suddenly and often dramatically shines… Read More »
Astronomers may have finally solved the mystery of how extremely dense dead stars called white dwarfs keep their heavy metal shells fresh by cannibalizing what’s left of their planetary systems. Our Sun will turn into a white dwarf in about five billion years after exhausting the hydrogen that fuels nuclear fusion in its core. So… Read More »
A binary star system in the constellation Corona Borealis consists of a white dwarf that pulls in material from a neighboring red giant, resulting in extraordinarily bright explosions every 79 to 80 years. (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center – image source) Starlight, star bright, will there be a new star tonight? That’s the question astronomers… Read More »
Chunks of debris from a shattered planet are irregularly spaced in a long, eccentric orbit around the white dwarf – Source: Dr Mark Garlick/The University of Warwick The ‘white dwarf’ star that could kill the Earth is already part of our solar system. When our sun dies it could ‘devour’ or tear apart our planet,… Read More »
The first data has arrived from a new telescope array. The Condor Array revealed a striking view of a distant dwarf nova; The scene offers astronomers a stunning new, ultra-low-brightness view of the universe. Condor consists of six refracting telescopes combined by computers to form a giant telescope cluster that can detect and study objects… Read More »
A dead star, devouring its own planets like an angry cosmic zombie, is scarred by planetary debris. The printed metal scar is located on the surface of this white dwarf star; When the Sun dies, such stellar remnants will remain behind, indicating the existence of “life after death” for planetary systems. The scar on the… Read More »
Astronomers have discovered a hitherto unknown source of cosmic dust. Why is it important to keep track of this powder? These particles basically serve as building blocks for stars. The international team found that such dust could be created by a type of cosmic explosion that occurs when a dead white dwarf star ejects material… Read More »