Micronova .. a new type of stellar explosion amazes scientists
Astronomers have discovered a previously unknown type of stellar explosion called a micronova, which involves thermonuclear explosions in the polar regions of a type of burning star called a “white dwarf” after stripping material from a companion star, according to Al Arabiya Net.
The researchers said the micronova is the least powerful type of stellar explosion to date because it has less energy than the explosion known as a “nova,” which occurs when the white dwarf’s entire surface explodes, and is small compared to that “Nova”. Supernova” (supernova) that occurs during the death of some giant stars.
Micronovae were observed from Earth as flashes of light lasting about ten hours. They have been documented on three white dwarfs, one 1,680 light-years from Earth, one 3,720 light-years away and one 4,900 light-years away.
A light year is the distance that light travels in one year, which is 9.5 trillion kilometers.
“The discovery was an unexpected surprise. It showed how dynamic the universe is. These events are fast and unsteady. To find them you have to look in the right place at the right time,” said astronomer Simon Scaringi of Durham University in England, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature.
White dwarfs, which are among the densest objects in the universe, are formed when the core of a dying star collapses. White dwarfs are as massive as the Sun but about 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 Nova’s case, the white dwarf lacks a strong magnetic field, meaning 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 larger than a micronova.
Researchers discovered the micronova while analyzing data from NASA’s TESS space telescope. With the Very Large Telescope of the “European Southern Observatory” based in Chile, the researchers confirmed that the explosions were white dwarfs.
Other types of starbursts include a kilonova, a phenomenon that occurs when two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole merge, and a hypernova, a type of supernova in which a massive star explodes at the end of its life cycle and collapses to form a black hole .
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