Collaborate Disseminate
Astronomers have identified the remains of a rare type of supernova in our home galaxy for the first time. These events, known as Type Iax supernovae, occur when white dwarfs explode and may leave behind a “zombie star.”Continue ReadingCategory: Space,… Continue reading Smoking gun of rare “zombie star” supernova discovered in Milky Way
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered a strange star system, where a giant gassy planet is tightly orbiting a tiny white dwarf. Not only is this the first time such an arrangement has been seen, but it raises some very odd … Continue reading Mysterious match-up as giant planet spotted orbiting tiny star
The universe may have started with a Big Bang, but it will most likely end in an utterly anticlimactic way, slowly fading to black over trillions and trillions of years. Now, a theoretical physicist at Illinois State University has calculated what migh… Continue reading Black dwarf supernovae might be the last event in the universe
A supernova may seem like a pretty final fate, but now astronomers have discovered a star that apparently survived this explosive process. It wasn’t without consequence, however – the star was kicked out of a tight binary orbit and flung across the gal… Continue reading Strange star somehow survives supernova, shoots off across galaxy
White dwarf stars have mostly been thought to follow very specific “rules” – if they’re over a certain mass limit, they’ll explode in a supernova with a very predictable brightness and time. But now Caltech astronomers have found a strange tw… Continue reading Ancient white dwarf explosions seem to disobey long-established "rules"
Human lives are just blips on the cosmic time scale, which makes it impossible for us to witness the full life cycles of stars, planets and galaxies. But sometimes, if we’re lucky, astronomers might be able to catch crucial moments playing ou… Continue reading Red giant star spotted in its death throes
Gravitational waves are usually detected as they sweep across Earth after whatever cataclysmic event created them, but now astronomers have found a likely source before the waves become detectable. Using Caltech’s Zwicky Transient Facility (Z… Continue reading Binary white dwarfs are waltzing fast enough to distort spacetime itself
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) was built to search for new planets, but astronomers at Ohio State discovered that it could also observe supernovas created by exploding white dwarf stars. This development means we might soon have a better idea about why they explode, and what they leave behind in the process.
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Continue Reading White dwarf supernova observation is a first for NASA’s TESS mission
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Continue reading White dwarf supernova observation is a first for NASA's TESS mission
Turning into crystal spheres is the ultimate fate of billions of stars in our galaxy, including our own Sun. Continue reading Tons of Stars Are Actually Solid ‘Crystal Spheres’ Hanging In Space
Where do you see yourself in a trillion years? Continue reading Corpses of Dead Stars Will Be ‘Humanity’s Last Refuge’ in a Dying Universe