Sunday, July 15, 2007

Dwarf Star Gulps Giant To Form Supernova


New research proposes the formation of type 1a supernova

Science Daily A team of European and American astronomers has announced the discovery of the best evidence yet for the nature of the star systems that explode as type Ia supernovae. The team obtained a unique set of observations with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and the Keck I 10-meter telescope in Hawaii. The researchers were able to detect the signature of the material that surrounded the star before it exploded. The evidence strongly supports the scenario in which the explosion occurred in a double-star system where a white dwarf is fed by a red giant.

(Credit: European Southern Observatory)

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