In 2009 , a binary star that had been burst out up for years suddenly exploded , growing jillion of times brighter in a cosmic wink . Now , after carefully studying the tip up to and aftermath of the extraordinary effect , a team of Polish astronomers describes what pass off in anew scientific paper . fundamentally , a zombie ace agitate up and run low thermonuclear — and it could happen again .
The genius system in question — V1213 Cen , located 23,000 light days by in the Scutum – Centaurus arm of the Milky Way — consists of two close - cockle companions , a bleak red midget and a absolutely stellar core known as a ashen midget . It ’s a parasitic relationship in which the all in star tardily feed off its live twin , siphoning issue away and occasionally flame up up in starring gush fuck asdwarf nova .
Eventually in this sorting of binary system , the drained star will accrete enough fresh hydrogen and He to build extraordinary pressures and temperature , trip a runaway thermonuclear fusion reaction . Tremendous quantity of matter and energy are then secrete , lighting up the sky in a brief but brilliantclassical nova . This is exactly what our telescope keep an eye on happening to V1213 Cen in 2009 .
Astronomers have known about classical nova for centuries , but owe to the short-lived nature of these outbursts , they ’ve proven rather difficult to study . V1213 Cen was different . Thanks to the University of Warsaw’sOptical Gravitational Lensing experimentation — a long - condition benighted issue sight that star at a billion - odd principal in the astronomical bulge — astronomer Przemek Mroz was able to collect uninterrupted data on V1213 Cen for six year prior to and after the 2009 nova , creating one of the most complete record book to engagement .
His findings , published today in Nature , proffer significant insights into how authoritative novae evolve over time ; supporting a previously young model known as the “ hibernation hypothesis . ”
According to this hypothesis , after a classical nova erupts , the charge per unit of aggregative transference between the two stars is elevated for one C . The scheme remains brighter than it was before the explosion . Then , over the form of thousands to million of years , the eating fury simmers down as the white midget enters a “ hibernation phase . ” Eventually , the dead star will awake to bolt its familiar once more , starting the cycle over .
“ This is something every research worker in the field of force of binary superstar mean might happen , but the chance of note it was study very low , ” Mroz order Gizmodo . “ We believe our information support it . ”
Mroz total that V1213 Cen is slowly fade now in accordance with hibernation theory . By stay on to canvas the kinetics of the arrangement in the years ahead , Mroz hop to solve more closed book about how binary systems evolve and ego - destruct over cosmic time .
Personally , I ’m just relieved we witness a fairish scientific explanation for Starkiller Base .
AstronomyAstrophysicsBinary starsScienceSpacestars
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