{"id":32618,"date":"2022-06-09T08:25:28","date_gmt":"2022-06-09T08:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=109400"},"modified":"2022-06-09T08:55:13","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T08:55:13","slug":"astronomers-discover-new-type-of-stellar-explosion","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/astronomers-discover-new-type-of-stellar-explosion\/","title":{"rendered":"Astronomers discover new type of stellar explosion"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Ezzy Pearson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 09 June 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\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 that can consume 20 million trillion kg of material in just a few hours.<\/p>\n

The explosions were first discovered by <\/span>NASA\u2019s exoplanet<\/a>-hunting mission, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite<\/a> (TESS), which found three white dwarf<\/a> stars that emitted a bright flash of light, lasting a few hours.<\/p>\n

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>, a different stellar event type).<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
A artist\u2019s impression of NASA\u2019s TESS mission. Image Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

What is a nova?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Novae occur when a white dwarf steals material from a larger companion star.<\/p>\n

When this kidnapped hydrogen gas hits the hot surface of the dwarf, it immediately fuses into helium \u2013 with explosive results.<\/p>\n

In previously known cases, this occurred across the whole surface of the star, creating a nova that could burn for a week.<\/p>\n

For stars with strong magnetic fields<\/a>, however, the incoming material gets syphoned down onto the poles.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time, we have now seen that hydrogen fusion can also happen in a localised way,: says Professor Paul Groot from Radboud University, who helped lead the study.<\/p>\n

\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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis leads to micro-fusion bombs going off, which have about one millionth the strength of a nova explosion, hence the name micronova.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
An artist\u2019s impression of a white dwarf star. Credit: 7activestudio \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\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.<\/span><\/p>\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.<\/p>\n

\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<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in the June 2022 issue of <\/strong><\/em>BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n

","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ezzy Pearson Published: Thursday, 09 June 2022 at 12:00 am 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 that can consume 20 million trillion kg of material in just a few hours. The explosions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":32619,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/06\/astronomers-discover-new-type-of-stellar-explosion-scaled.jpg",2560,1600,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/06\/astronomers-discover-new-type-of-stellar-explosion-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/06\/astronomers-discover-new-type-of-stellar-explosion-300x188.jpg",300,188,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/06\/astronomers-discover-new-type-of-stellar-explosion-768x480.jpg",768,480,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/06\/astronomers-discover-new-type-of-stellar-explosion-1024x640.jpg",800,500,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/06\/astronomers-discover-new-type-of-stellar-explosion-1536x960.jpg",1536,960,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/06\/astronomers-discover-new-type-of-stellar-explosion-2048x1280.jpg",2048,1280,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Ezzy Pearson Published: Thursday, 09 June 2022 at 12:00 am 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 that can consume 20 million trillion kg of material in just a few hours. The explosions…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/32618"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}