A rare eruption of light from a dead star will likely be visible to people on Earth this summer in a fleeting but potentially stark celestial display that scientists are calling “a once-in-a-lifetime event.”
Sometime between now and September, scientists expect that a nova in the Corona Borealis, or Northern Crown, of the Milky Way will send a flash so powerful into space that the naked eye can witness it, NASA announced recently.
A red giant is a dying star in the final phase of its life cycle, becoming increasingly turbulent as it expands and periodically expels material from its outer layers in intense episodes.
The red giant in this pairing is constantly being stripped of hydrogen as it continues along its path toward total collapse, while the white dwarf nearby pulls that material into its own orbit, according to NASA.
The hydrogen siphoned off of the red giant accumulates on the surface of the white dwarf over a number of decades, until the heat and pressure has built to such an extent that it prompts a full-blown thermonuclear explosion.
At that point, the process of hydrogen buildup between the two stars restarts, and it will continue until the accumulation of material on the white dwarf reaches its threshold the next time and abruptly explodes.
The original article contains 686 words, the summary contains 213 words. Saved 69%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A rare eruption of light from a dead star will likely be visible to people on Earth this summer in a fleeting but potentially stark celestial display that scientists are calling “a once-in-a-lifetime event.”
Sometime between now and September, scientists expect that a nova in the Corona Borealis, or Northern Crown, of the Milky Way will send a flash so powerful into space that the naked eye can witness it, NASA announced recently.
A red giant is a dying star in the final phase of its life cycle, becoming increasingly turbulent as it expands and periodically expels material from its outer layers in intense episodes.
The red giant in this pairing is constantly being stripped of hydrogen as it continues along its path toward total collapse, while the white dwarf nearby pulls that material into its own orbit, according to NASA.
The hydrogen siphoned off of the red giant accumulates on the surface of the white dwarf over a number of decades, until the heat and pressure has built to such an extent that it prompts a full-blown thermonuclear explosion.
At that point, the process of hydrogen buildup between the two stars restarts, and it will continue until the accumulation of material on the white dwarf reaches its threshold the next time and abruptly explodes.
The original article contains 686 words, the summary contains 213 words. Saved 69%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!