2<\/sub>), carbon monoxide is relatively easy to discover in space, and is a favourite tool for astronomers.<\/p>\n“Thanks to Alma’s exquisite sensitivity, we were able to detect the very faint signals from several different molecules in the gas ejected by these stars,\u201d explained Khouri. \u201cWhen we looked closely at the data, we saw details that we really weren’t expecting to see”.<\/p>\n
The observations confirmed that the stars were blowing off their outer layers. However, the proportions of the different oxygen atoms in the molecules indicated that the stars were, in another respect, not as extreme as they had seemed, explained team member Wouter Vlemmings, astronomer at Chalmers University of Technology.<\/p>\n
“We realised that these stars started their lives with the same mass as the Sun, or only a few times more,\u201d said Vlemmings. \u201cNow our measurements showed that they have ejected up to 50% of their total mass, just in the last few hundred years. Something really dramatic must have happened to them”.<\/p>\n
The common envelope phase<\/h3>\n The astronomers wanted to understand why such small stars were losing mass at such a quick rate. The evidence helped them come to the explanation that they were all double stars, and had all just been through a phase in which the two stars embrace and shared the same atmosphere. This resulted in one star being entirely engulphed by the other.<\/p>\n
“In this phase, the two stars orbit together in a sort of cocoon,\u201d explained Daniel Tafoya of Chalmers University of Technology. \u201cThis phase, which we call a \u2018common envelope\u2019 phase, is really brief, and only lasts a few hundred years. In astronomical terms, it\u2019s over in the blink of an eye\u201d.<\/p>\n
Most stars in binary systems simply orbit around a common centre of mass. These stars, however, share the same atmosphere. It can be a life-changing experience for a star and may even result in the stars merging completely.<\/p>\n
Scientists believe that this sort of intimate episode can lead to some of the sky’s most spectacular phenomena. Understanding how it happens could help answer some of astronomers’ biggest questions about how stars live and die, Theo Khouri explains.<\/p>\n
How the results unearth long asked questions about the life and death of stars<\/h3>\n “What happens to cause a supernova explosion? How do black holes get close enough to collide? What’s makes the beautiful and symmetric objects we call planetary nebulae?\u201d, asked Khouri. \u201cAstronomers have suspected for many years that common envelopes are part of the answers to questions like these. Now we have a new way of studying this momentous but mysterious phase”.<\/p>\n
Understanding the common envelope phase will also help scientists to study what will happen in the very distant future, as the Sun will eventually become a bigger, cooler star – a red giant to be precise – and engulf the innermost planets.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur research will help us understand how that might happen, but it gives me another, more hopeful perspective,\u201d said Daniel Tafoya. \u201cWhen these stars embrace, they send dust and gas out into space that can become the ingredients for coming generations of stars and planets, and with them the potential for new life\u201d.<\/p>\n
Since the 15 stars seem to be evolving on a human timescale, the team plan to keep monitoring them with Alma and other radio telescopes. With the future telescopes of the SKA Observatory, they intend to study how the stars form their jets and change their surroundings.<\/p>\n
\u201cActually, we think the known \u2018water fountains\u2019 could be almost the only systems of their kind that exist in the whole of our galaxy. If that’s true, then these stars really are the key to understanding the strangest, most wonderful and important process that two stars can experience in their lives together”, concluded Khouri.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Astronomers from the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have utilised the Alma telescope to discover the phenomenon of two stars embracing as they come into close proximity. Unlike our Sun, most stars live with a companion. Sometimes, two stars gather in such a close proximity that one engulfs the other, with comprehensive consequences. A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":16607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24615],"tags":[818,17008,3477],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Alma telescope reveals the process where stars embrace<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n