{"id":28736,"date":"2023-01-11T13:00:47","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T13:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=28736"},"modified":"2023-01-10T13:35:14","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T13:35:14","slug":"unusual-stellar-explosion-will-expand-our-understanding-of-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/unusual-stellar-explosion-will-expand-our-understanding-of-stars\/28736\/","title":{"rendered":"Unusual stellar explosion will expand our understanding of stars"},"content":{"rendered":"
These types of supernova explosions are produced during the deaths of massive stars, with the elements seen in a stellar explosion reflecting the composition of the dying star at the time of the explosion.<\/p>\n
\u201cStars are glowing balls of gas of mostly hydrogen, the lightest element in nature. They shine by fusing atomic nuclei together to create heavier elements and energy,\u201d explained\u00a0Hanindyo Kuncarayakti, a research fellow at the Academy of Finland\u00a0and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Turku, Finland.<\/p>\n
Massive stars \u2013 which result in stellar explosions at their time of death \u2013 have around eight times the mass of the Sun or more. Their structures are similar to that of an onion, with layers of different elements inside them. Their outer layers mostly consist of hydrogen; however, within the deeper layers of the star, heavier elements like helium, carbon, and oxygen exist.<\/p>\n
Kuncarayakti said: \u201cDuring its lifetime, a star may lose some, or even most, of its mass. The most common way is through ejecting streams of particles, a process known as stellar winds, which also occur in the Sun.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome stars lose their mass very vigorously, and may completely strip all of their hydrogen envelopes. As a result, the inner layers may become exposed. The mass lost by the star may remain in the vicinity of the star, creating circumstellar matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Previously, astronomers have identified supernovae with circumstellar matter that is rich in hydrogen, as well as those rich in helium. Furthermore, in 2021, researchers discovered supernovae with carbon-oxygen circumstellar matter. These different types of objects represent a sequence of stellar envelope stripping and the accumulation of stripped matter around the star, starting from hydrogen, which is the lightest and outermost element.<\/p>\n
As a result of the stellar explosion discovery, Kuncarayakti\u2019s team could possibly extend our understanding of a massive star\u2019s structure and where they lose its mass. Supernova (SN) 2021ocs was observed in a survey using the 8.2m European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe spectrum looked like nothing we have seen before. It had strong features of oxygen and magnesium, and the object was unusually long-lasting and blue,\u201d Kuncarayakti said.<\/p>\n
These observations suggest that the oxygen-magnesium-rich expanding gas from the stellar explosion of SN 2021ocs could potentially be crashing into circumstellar matter. Matter such as this could have been formed by the precursory star, via mass loss only around 1,000 days prior to the supernova explosion<\/a>.<\/p>\n As such, the observations act like a time machine, probing the dying star\u2019s activities shortly before the final explosion.<\/p>\n Seppo Mattila, Professor of Astronomy at the University of Turku, who also participated in the study, concluded: \u201cBy observing new types of supernovae, we gain valuable information about the later stages of life of massive stars.<\/p>\n \u201cThis, on the other hand, creates new challenges for our theories on stars\u2019 evolution.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to Kuncarayakti and Mattila, researchers\u00a0Takashi Nagao,\u00a0Claudia Gutierrez,\u00a0and\u00a0Rubina Kotak\u00a0from the University of Turku contributed to the study.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Research discovered a stellar explosion rich in oxygen and magnesium, increasing our understanding of the later life of massive stars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":28739,"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":[771],"tags":[818,3477],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n