Back in1901 , a dramatic stellar aim called GK Persei became the deserved nidus of many astronomer ’ tending . After break onto the supernal scene , this star reserve the title of the brightest in the sky for several daytime before slowly dimming . Now , more than a one C later , scientists have learned that what they had been observing was actually a kind of “ mini supernova ” explosion , which occurred1,500 eld ago .
Before going thunder , GK Persei was a belittled version of our Lord’s Day , aroundeight times less monolithic , that was set about the end of its suck up out stellar evolution . After exhausting all its atomic fuel in the form of hydrogen , GK Persei became an extremely hot and dense object known as awhite dwarf . These are so dense that a bare teaspoon of their matter would matter a whopping5.5 tonsback on Earth .
But this was n’t it for GK Persei ; its gravitational pull was strong enough to begindragging in stuff , mostly atomic number 1 , from its comrade star . If enough gas is suck in , atomic fusion response can take situation on the dwarf ’s control surface , eventually resulting in a dramatic windfall that rips off its kayoed plate , ejecting the material into the surrounding space . These cosmic outburst are known as “ classical nova ” and are believe small - scale supernova , the spectacular explosions of massive stars . Unlike supernovas , however , these mini effusion do n’t result in the destruction of the integral star .
While classical novas may be much more unglamorous than supernovas , they are still extremely important study target to further our knowledge of stellar explosions . what is more , GK Persei is in particular interesting because it has revealed some intriguing insights into the environment surrounding the event .
After pointing the Chandra X - ray observatory at the nova on two separate social occasion , spread out over a menstruum of 13 years , scientist were able to reap important selective information about the change in X - ray emissions that occurred over time . These data revealed that the explosion squeeze out material into space at staggering speeds of more than a million kilometer per 60 minutes ( 700,000 miles per hour ) . That mean that between observation , the detritus spread out around 145 billion klick ( 90 billion miles ) .
But what is perhaps most interesting is that while this starring corpse decrease in ten - beam luminosity by around 40 % over the 13 age , its temperature barely changed . This find was unexpected given the fact that the shock waving produce by the explosion should have left a trail of nerveless temperatures as it expatiate and heated more and more matter . According to a NASAstatement , this “ suggests that the wave of Energy Department has swept up a paltry amount of gas in the environment around the champion over the past 13 years . ” This could point , NASAsays , that the wave is traveling through a less impenetrable area than before .
[ ViaNASAandspace.com ]
