Wild Observation shows white dwarf stars blending into something new

Astronomers have observed evidence of a hot, whirling star blowing winds blowing from the outside at 10,000 miles per second, which appears to be formed from a relatively recent collision. White dwarf stars. This is one of the clearest evidence to date of the collision and fusion of these stars.

White dwarfs are incredibly dense and shiny remains of dead stars. Researchers expect a Type 1a supernova, or large stellar explosion, to occur when pairs of white dwarves unite. But in this case, the object did not explode, it simply produced stellar winds staggering. Such results help scientists to understand more generally supernovae and white dwarf stars.

"First of all, [these results show] that mergers of white dwarves occur, "said Gizmodo Götz Gräfener, co-author of the study. "And second, it shows that some of these mergers do not explode."

The researchers were specifically looking for clouds of gas and dust surrounding the stars emitting in the infrared when they discovered this object, about 10,000 light-years away, in the constellation of Cassiopeia, using data from the Wide-Infrared Survey Explorer space telescope. They named the object J005311 and still observed it with the help of a six-meter telescope at the Academy's Special Astrophysical Observatory. Russian sciences. They measured the brightness and spectrum – the different wavelengths of light – emitted by the object to determine what was happening.

J005311 is about 40,000 times brighter than the Sun and, based on its emission lines, scientists were able to deduce that it was extremely hot: about 200,000 degrees Kelvin (about 360,000 Fahrenheit ) emitting stellar winds at 16,000 kilometers per second, about 10,000 km. per second. And surprisingly, it seemed to lack hydrogen and helium. These properties agree well with the theories on the appearance of a pair of fused white dwarves, according to the article published Monday in Nature.

And if that's true, scientists could look at the precursor of a supernova. According to the publication, the object would become a low mass neutron star and then explode into what is called a type 1c nucleus collapse supernova. This is interesting and different from what scientists expect: white dwarfs that collide with other stars should turn into type 1a supernovae.

Other scientists were delighted to see the paper. "As far as I know, the interpretation of the merger between the white dwarf and the white negro fits well with the observations," Gizmodo Josiah Schwab, theoretical astrophysicist at UC Santa, told Gizmodo Cruz, in an email. "The wind speed is remarkable and I think it will be important for future observations to try to test the proposed magnetic scenario in the document." Gräfener also told Gizmodo that the direct measurement of the magnetic field of the object was one of the future goals of the team. .

Researchers can not be quite sure of getting the result of the merger of white dwarves. It may be a huge star that has lost a lot of its content, although this interpretation does not match the data, said Gräfener.

But it's still an extreme object, and it could continue to reveal the true nature of the chaotic things that happen in our universe.