{"id":31798,"date":"2022-05-24T10:16:32","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T10:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=31798"},"modified":"2022-05-24T10:16:32","modified_gmt":"2022-05-24T10:16:32","slug":"newly-found-micronovae-still-pack-a-punch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/2022\/05\/24\/newly-found-micronovae-still-pack-a-punch\/","title":{"rendered":"Newly found micronovae still pack a punch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Previously unknown stellar explosions are small, but only in comparison to other types<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
In a micronova, hydrogen fusion takes place only on small areas of a white dwarf\u2019s surface, with explosive results <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Astronomers have discovered a new kind of stellar explosion, called a micronova. But don\u2019t be deceived by its seemingly diminutive name \u2013 these are actually colossal stellar explosions which can consume 20 million trillion kg of material in just a few hours.<\/p>\n\n

The explosions were first discovered by NASA\u2019s exoplanet-hunting satellite, TESS, which found three white dwarf stars that emitted a bright flash of light, lasting a few hours. After follow-up observations from ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope, they were found to be miniature versions of previously known stellar explosions known as novae (not to be confused with supernovae, a different stellar event type).<\/p>\n\n

Novae occur when a white dwarf steals material from a larger companion star. When this kidnapped hydrogen gas hits the hot surface of the dwarf, it immediately fuses into helium \u2013 with explosive results. In previously known cases, this occurred across the whole surface of the star, creating a nova which could burn for a week. For stars with strong magnetic fields, however, the incoming material gets syphoned down onto the poles.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\u201cFor the first time, we have now seen that hydrogen fusion can also happen in a localised way,\u201d says Professor Paul Groot from Radboud University, who helped lead the study. \u201cThe hydrogen fuel can be contained at the base of the magnetic poles of some white dwarfs, so that fusion only happens at these magnetic poles. This leads to micro-fusion bombs going off, which have about one millionth the strength of a nova explosion, hence the name micronova.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

As well as discovering a new mechanism for how these stellar explosions occur, the find could also mean nova-like events are not as rare as previously thought.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThese events might be quite common, but because they are so fast they are difficult to catch in action,\u201d says Dr Simone Scaringi from Durham University, who led the study. \u201cThe phenomenon challenges our understanding of how thermonuclear explosions in stars occur. We thought we knew this, but this discovery proposes a totally new way to achieve them. It just goes to show how dynamic the Universe is.\u201d <\/span>https:\/\/tess.mit.edu\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n

ILLUSTRATION;ESO\/M. KORNMESSER\/L. CAL\u00c7ADA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Previously unknown stellar explosions are small, but only in comparison to other types<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":32199,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"12","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"12","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_12-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_12-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"June-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"June-2022","purple_external_id":"June-2022-12-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"June-2022-12-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000086553||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086553||","purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.205","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.205","purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.205","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.205","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"075fab74-0a21-4201-866a-899d6c41c40c","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[14],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/9PG1E41971578654BWQ7GOI8EFPC.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/9PG1E41971578654BWQ7GOI8EFPC.jpg",2048,1279,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/9PG1E41971578654BWQ7GOI8EFPC-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/9PG1E41971578654BWQ7GOI8EFPC-300x187.jpg",300,187,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/9PG1E41971578654BWQ7GOI8EFPC-768x480.jpg",768,480,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/9PG1E41971578654BWQ7GOI8EFPC-1024x640.jpg",800,500,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/9PG1E41971578654BWQ7GOI8EFPC-1536x959.jpg",1536,959,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/05\/9PG1E41971578654BWQ7GOI8EFPC.jpg",2048,1279,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Previously unknown stellar explosions are small, but only in comparison to other types","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31798"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31798"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32200,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31798\/revisions\/32200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}