Sentences with phrase «white dwarfs merge»

While it's known that Type 1a supernovae form from collapsing white dwarfs — the densest forms of matter after black holes and neutron stars — their formation theories come in two flavors: the single degenerate scenario in which a normal star is consumed by a white dwarf; and the double degenerate scenario in which two white dwarfs merge.

The Hubble Space Telescope's recent discovery of the earliest known Type Ia supernova from more than 10 billion years ago, plus other results, favor a scenario in which two white dwarfs merge.

Type Ia supernovas are known to form when a white dwarf merges with another star, like a puffed - up red giant (as opposed to Type II supernovas, which form when a single star dies and collapses on itself).

While some of these supernovae happen when a white dwarf robs its companion of too much matter, others are the result of two white dwarfs merging.

Not exact matches

Merging black holes, spiraling white dwarfs, and spinning neutron stars all emit gravitational radiation.

Type Ia supernovae, often used to calibrate cosmological measurements, may arise from merging white dwarfs, after all

The favored alternative at present is the so - called double - degenerate scenario, in which two white dwarfs locked in a binary pairing spiral inward and merge, triggering an explosion.

«Until now, the formation of supernovae Type Ia by the merging of two white dwarfs was purely theoretical,» said David Jones, one of the paper's coauthors who was an ESO Fellow at the time the data were obtained.

«Merging White Dwarfs Set Off Supernovae.»