Tag

Helium Star

All articles tagged with #helium star

"Unveiling the Enigmatic Nature of Magnetic Stellar Remnants"
astronomy3 years ago

"Unveiling the Enigmatic Nature of Magnetic Stellar Remnants"

Astronomers have discovered that HD 45166, a star in a binary system, is a highly magnetic helium star, a type of stellar body that hadn't previously been predicted to exist. This finding could be the "missing link" in understanding the formation of magnetars, highly magnetic stellar corpses. The star's powerful magnetic field, the strongest ever detected in a massive star that may become a neutron star, suggests that it will collapse into a magnetar in a few million years. The discovery also provides insights into the formation of magnetars and the interaction of stellar pairs. Further observations and searches for similar objects are planned to better understand these phenomena.

Supernova Origins Unveiled by Radio and Molecular Studies
astronomy3 years ago

Supernova Origins Unveiled by Radio and Molecular Studies

Astronomers have discovered the origin of a thermonuclear supernova explosion, revealing that the exploding white dwarf star had a helium-rich companion that had lost much of its material just prior to the explosion. The discovery of supernova SN 2020eyj established the first radio detection of a Type Ia supernova, providing better understanding of explosions of white dwarfs as supernovae used for cosmological measurements. The research involved an international team of astronomers from institutes across the world.