May 1, 2024

Astronomers Discover a Strange New Type of Star Covered in Helium Burning Ashes

Stellar mergers are known to occur between white overshadows in close double stars due to the shrinking of the orbit triggered by the emission of gravitational waves. “Usually, white dwarf mergers do not result in the formation of stars enhanced in carbon and oxygen,” explains Miller Bertolami, “but our company believe that, for binary systems formed with very particular masses, a carbon- and oxygen-rich white dwarf may be interrupted and end up on top of a helium-rich one, causing the development of these stars.”
These designs could not just assist the group to better understand these stars, however might also provide a much deeper insight into the late development of binary systems and how their stars exchange mass as they evolve. Up until astronomers establish more refined designs for the evolution of binary stars, the origin of the helium covered stars will be up for dispute.
” Normally we anticipate stars with these surface area compositions to have already ended up burning helium in their cores, and to be on their method to ending up being white overshadows. These new stars are a severe difficulty to our understanding of stellar advancement,” discusses Professor Werner.
Recommendation:” Discovery of hot subdwarfs covered with helium-burning ash” by Klaus Werner, Nicole Reindl, Stephan Geier and Max Pritzkuleit, 12 February 2022, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.DOI: 10.1093/ mnrasl/slac005.

“We believe the stars discovered by our German associates may have formed in a really unusual kind of excellent merger occasion between 2 white dwarf stars,” states Dr. Miller Bertolami of the Institute for Astrophysics of La Plata, lead author of the second paper. These designs might not only assist the team to better understand these stars, but could likewise offer a deeper insight into the late evolution of binary systems and how their stars exchange mass as they develop. Up until astronomers develop more refined designs for the advancement of binary stars, the origin of the helium covered stars will be up for dispute.

Artists impression of an unusual type of excellent merger event between two white dwarf stars. Credit: Nicole Reindl
A group of German astronomers, led by Professor Klaus Werner of the University of Tübingen, have actually found a weird new kind of star covered in the by-product of helium burning. It is possible that the stars might have been formed by a rare outstanding merger event. The fascinating outcomes are released in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
While typical stars have surface areas made up of hydrogen and helium, the stars found by Werner and his associates have their surfaces covered with carbon and oxygen, the ashes of helium burning– an unique structure for a star. The situation becomes more confusing as the new stars have temperatures and radii that suggest they are still burning helium in their cores– a home typically seen in more progressed stars than those observed by Werner and his team in this research study.
Released alongside the work of Professor Werner and his group, a second paper from a group of astronomers from the University of La Plata and limit Planck Institute for Astrophysics offers a possible explanation for their formation. “We think the stars discovered by our German colleagues might have formed in a very unusual kind of excellent merger occasion in between two white dwarf stars,” states Dr. Miller Bertolami of the Institute for Astrophysics of La Plata, lead author of the second paper. White dwarfs are the remnants of larger stars that have actually tired their nuclear fuel, and are generally extremely little and thick.