For the first time, a team of astronomers captured a clear image of a white dwarf star that exploded not only once, but twice, as a “double detonation” supernova that scientists had not thought possible so far. Extraordinary observation can revise our longtime notions of how stars die, suggesting that some stars can explode like supernoves without ever crossing the ChandraSekhar limit, the minimal mass usually deemed necessary for this explosion. Astronomers employed the great telescope muse instrument to increase zoom at SNR 0509-67.5, which is 60,000 light years away from the dorado constellation, revealing evidence of two separate explosion disasters in their construction.
The first visual test shows that white dwarfs can explode twice without reaching the ChandraSekhar limit
Like researchers report On July 2, at Nature Astronomy, the team found a distinct “fingerprint” in the debris of SNR 0509-67.5 on the large cloud of Magelanic that the models predicted. The white dwarfs are the dead scene of the Sol-General Stars explode in the Ia Supernoves after reaching ChandraSekhar’s limit stealing the story of a neighboring star.
However, this find It shows that detonation can be launched at a previous time. It is likely that the explosion has a two -step origin, the team argues, with the initial explosion being generated when an unstable layer of helium that the star had exploded on its surface; The resulting shock wave directed a second and main detonation.
“This physical proof of double detonation not only helps to solve a longtime mystery of what causes these explosions, but represents the most visually convincing evidence for this origin.” Priyam das, New Wales University, team leader and author.
Something is happening to the AI supernovae, the “standard candles” used to measure cosmic Distances, because their brightness does not float. But they have confused scientists with a long time with the way they explode. Until this discovery, a white explosion dwarf that did not exceed ChandraSekhar’s limit was considered only in theory.
This new visual evidence of the dual detonation model further informs our knowledge of star evolution and also informs how we should interpret the light of distant supernoves. More than its scientific implications, its discovery adds a new color page to the story of dying stars – stars that, as it seems now, will not come gently that night, but will illuminate the sky twice in fantastic fireworks before disappearing from the cosmos.