NASAのインスタグラム(nasa) - 8月7日 02時25分

Using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has spotted a star system that could have left behind a “zombie star” after an unusually weak supernova explosion.

A supernova typically obliterates the exploding white dwarf, or dying star. On this occasion, scientists believe this faint supernova may have left behind a surviving portion of the dwarf star -- a sort of zombie star.

While examining Hubble images taken years before the stellar explosion, astronomers identified a blue companion star feeding energy to a white dwarf, a process that ignited a nuclear reaction and released this weak supernova blast. This supernova, Type Iax, is less common than its brighter cousin, Type Ia. Astronomers have identified more than 30 of these mini-supernovas that may leave behind a surviving white dwarf.

Seen here is an inset panel with a pair of before-and-after Hubble Space Telescope images of Supernova 2012Z in the spiral galaxy NGC 1309. The white X at the top of the galaxy image marks the location of the supernova.

The 2005 and 2006 panel shows what astronomers believe to be a helium star transferring material to a white dwarf, causing the supernova in the 2013 panel. The team plans to use Hubble again in 2015 to observe the area, giving time for the supernova’s light to dim enough to reveal any possible surviving ”zombie star” and helium companion.

Credit: NASA, ESA, C. McCully and S. Jha (Rutgers Univ.), and R. Foley (Univ. of Illinois)
#nasa #hubble #zombie #zombies #stars #universe #hst #space

[BIHAKUEN]UVシールド(UVShield)

>> 飲む日焼け止め！「UVシールド」を購入する