Sentences with phrase «white dwarf stars explode»

Not exact matches

Matter falling from a companion star onto a white dwarf might have induced a thermonuclear chain reaction that forced the dwarf to expand radically without exploding into a more common nova, Bond notes.

But it turns out white dwarfs can breach that tipping point in another situation: Instead of a giant star losing material to a white dwarf, two white dwarfs orbiting each other could slam together and explode.

Another, less common kind of supernova, type 1a, occurs when a remnant of a star called a white dwarf steals matter from a companion star until the white dwarf explodes (SN: 4/30/16, p. 20).

At first glance this exploding star had all the features of a type Ia supernova, which happens when a small, dense white dwarf star steals material from an orbiting companion and then explodes.

Sandage's preferred method is to use type Ia supernovae, which arise when a white dwarf star gathers material from a companion and explodes.

These so - called supersoft sources are now thought to be white dwarf stars that cannibalize their stellar companions and then, in many cases, explode

Astronomers believe that Type Ia supernovae occur when matter falls into an old white - dwarf star and pushes its mass over a threshold at which the carbon core ignites and triggers the star to explode.

The UCSB - led research implies that the white dwarf was stealing matter from a much larger companion star — approximately 20 times the radius of the sun — which caused the white dwarf to explode.

The white dwarf accretes material from the companion star, then at some point, it might explode as a type Ia supernova.

The most famous supernovae are the result of a massive star exploding, but a white dwarf, the remnant of an intermediate mass star like our Sun, can also explode.

At the age of 20, when most college sophomores are still picking their majors, Harvard student Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar proved that white dwarf stars would explode after reaching a mass 1.4 times that of our sun.

My research concentrates on the study of exploding stars — mainly nova outbursts caused by thermonuclear explosions on the surface of white dwarfs in binary star systems.

As the white dwarf accretes material from the nearby star, it's possible that could explode as a type la supernova.

If the white dwarf accretes enough material to reach the Chandrasekhar limit, the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star (1.4 solar mass), it will likely explode as a Type Ia supernova.