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nova

For the first time, a team of scientists have captured all phases of a classical nova explosion — earlier, during, and afterward the event. The effect took identify back in 2009, but at offset the astronomers didn't even realize they'd captured such an unusual occurrence. After going back and looking at the data, they spotted the nova and have at present published the newspaper in the journal Nature.

You hear a lot more about supernovas because that'due south something that many stars volition go through somewhen. That'due south the explosion that kicks off the terminal stage in stellar development. It occurs when a massive star has exhausted its supply of fusion elements and can no longer back up its own gravity. It collapses and causes a massive explosion. What's left later on is a stellar remnant — a neutron star, black pigsty, or white dwarf. Our sun volition most likely become a white dwarf at the end of its life.

A nova, on the other hand, does not signal the death of a star and is much more rare. It occurs when a star of some sort collects material from a nearby companion. This increases the mass of the star and eventually results in a huge thermonuclear explosion. This can happen with various star types, but it's well-nigh common when at that place's a meaty and highly dense stellar remnant in shut proximity to a star notwithstanding has non gone supernova.  In the case of this observation, known as Nova Centauri 2009, researchers saw a white dwarf go nova after accreting matter from its binary companion ruby-red dwarf.

nova

The astronomers were working with the Warsaw University Observatory on a completely different observation when they spotted the nova explosion. After that, they went back and looked at past images of that area of the heaven, finding that the entire build-up had been captured in improver to the explosion and aftermath.

Studying the wealth of data, the researchers were able to see fluctuations in brightness as mass was being transferred to the white dwarf in the days leading up to the nova. They also watches as the rate of mass transfer shot up immediately post-obit the explosion. The study states that the system is yet brighter than it was before the nova, but it's continuing to fade. Having a timeline of observational information leading upward to the nova could permit astronomers to learn more than virtually how these binary systems behave. It is believed that novas in systems like this one merely occur every few meg years, so it was lucky we were looking in the right identify at the right fourth dimension.

Now read: What is a supernova — or why stars explode, creating the universe as we know it