A research led from the College of Turku, Finland, found a supernova explosion that expands our understanding of the later life phases of huge stars.
Supernova explosions are produced on the deaths of huge stars. The weather seen in a supernova replicate the composition of the dying star on the time of explosion.
“Stars are glowing balls of gasoline of principally hydrogen, the lightest factor in nature. They shine by fusing atomic nuclei collectively to create heavier components and vitality,” explains Academy of Finland Analysis Fellow Hanindyo Kuncarayakti from the Division of Physics and Astronomy on the College of Turku, Finland.
Large stars, which have round 8 instances the mass of the Solar or extra, include buildings just like an onion, with layers of various components inside them. As we go deeper inside a star, we encounter layers of subsequently heavier components than hydrogen, resembling helium, then carbon, oxygen, and so forth.
“Throughout its lifetime, a star might lose some, and even most, of its mass. The most typical approach is thru ejecting streams of particles, a course of referred to as stellar winds, which happen additionally within the Solar. Some stars lose their mass very vigorously, and will utterly strip all of their hydrogen envelope. In consequence, the inside layers might grow to be uncovered. The mass misplaced by the star might stay within the neighborhood of the star, creating circumstellar matter,” says Kuncarayakti.
Astronomers have beforehand recognized supernovae with circumstellar matter wealthy in hydrogen, in addition to these wealthy in helium. Very not too long ago, solely in 2021, researchers have found supernovae with carbon-oxygen circumstellar matter. These totally different sorts of objects characterize a sequence of stellar envelope stripping and the buildup of stripped matter across the star, ranging from the lightest and outermost factor — hydrogen.
A staff led by Academy Analysis Fellow Kuncarayakti has found a supernova that probably extends our understanding of this sequence the place huge stars lose their mass. Supernova (SN) 2021ocs was noticed in a survey utilizing the 8.2-m European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Massive Telescope (VLT) in Chile.
“The spectrum seemed like nothing we’ve seen earlier than. It had robust options of oxygen and magnesium, and the item was unusually long-lasting and blue,” Kuncarayakti describes.
These observations counsel that the oxygen-magnesium-rich increasing gasoline from the explosion of SN 2021ocs could possibly be crashing into circumstellar matter. Such circumstellar matter might have been shaped by the precursor star by way of mass loss solely round 1,000 days previous to the supernova explosion. As such, the observations act like a time machine, probing the dying star’s actions shortly earlier than the ultimate explosion.
“By observing new forms of supernovae, we acquire worthwhile details about the later phases of lifetime of huge stars. This, then again, creates new challenges for our theories on stars’ evolution,” says Professor of Astronomy Seppo Mattila from the College of Turku who additionally participated within the research.
Along with Kuncarayakti and Mattila, researchers Takashi Nagao, Claudia Gutierrez and Rubina Kotak from the College of Turku contributed to the research.
