Space is virtually teeming with meteors dying stars all consuming black holes
cannibal galaxies and explosions lots and lots of explosions supernovas or stars that collapse
within themselves have become a rather common phenomenon in scientists studying stars are
constantly on the lookout for the next big thing and they might actually be in luck this time
recently a team of astronomers discovered a new kind of explosion in space which has
never been seen before one that's less powerful but by no means less important step aside
supernovas and make way for the micro nova welcome to Factnomenal in today's video we'll take a look
at the new space event that could possibly change the way we study and understand our stars forever
the life and death of stars is incredibly fascinating these celestial bodies spend a
good chunk of their lives burning bright giving off lots of light shining beautifully against
the dark backdrop of space but as each star is so different and unique from the others
not all supernovae are the same either white dwarfs red dwarfs supergiants main sequence
stars and binary star systems are some of the major types so depending on the type of star
you could end up with a different explosion which could then produce completely different remnants
smaller stars live for an incredibly long time owing to the fact that they don't require a lot
of energy to balance the inward gravitational pull so they're simply able to sip at their
hydrogen reserves and happily burn hydrogen in their cores for trillions of years ultimately
they sort of vaguely sputter out and turn into inert lumps of helium just floating through space
a peaceful life with a rather slow wind on eventful end on the other hand when bigger stars
specifically stars almost a hundred times bigger than our sun finally run out of their burning fuel
they collapse into themselves and explode within what seems like just a fraction of a second what
happens after that is just as fascinating massive stars in particular experience
the most interesting phenomena there are few things in the universe that defy comprehension
and supernovae are undoubtedly on that list in fact right now as we speak a complete star could
collapse in on itself create a black hole form some of the denser elements of the universe and
finally explode such a thing has the energy of millions of stars put together it's really
no wonder scientists astronomers and researchers are all so fascinated by
stars and their deaths because there's just so much we can learn from them and it's this
curiosity and study of stars that's now led to the discovery of a new type of star explosion in space
a team of astronomers with the help of the European Southern Observatory's Very Large
Telescope has now observed a new type of stellar explosion which they've termed a micronova we've
previously heard of supernovas kilonovas or even just plain old novas which are the least energetic
of all these super explosions now it looks like there are more types of these star explosions than
previously thought Simone Scaringgate astronomer at durham university in the uk who led the study
on the explosions that were discovered stated we've discovered and identified for the first time
what we're calling a micronova the phenomenon challenges our understanding of how thermonuclear
explosions in stars occur we thought we knew this but this discovery proposes a total new
way to achieve them micronovi are observed from earth as bursts of light lasting about 10 hours
they're documented on three different white dwarf stars one sixteen hundred eighty
light years away one three thousand seven hundred and twenty light years away with
the furthest being four thousand nine hundred light years away from the planet earth
the team first came across the three micronova or at the time what they assumed to be mysterious
micro explosions when they were analyzing data from nasa's transiting exoplanet survey satellite
as they were going over astronomical data that had been collected using the test the team soon came
across something rather unusual a bright flash of optical light which lasted only a couple of hours
upon further inspection similar signals were found the team of astronomers observed the three
micronova two were from known white dwarfs but was the third that required further observation
using the ESO's very large telescope they were able to determine that all the optical flashes
were produced by white dwarfs which was critical to their interpreting the results of the micronova
to truly understand how a micronova blast occurs we must go back to white dwarf stars white dwarfs
are among the densest objects in the universe and are formed as a result of the collapse of a dying
star's core on average they have the mass of our sun but when it comes to size they're about as
small as our planet earth some of the white dwarfs are even a part of what's called a binary system
in an orbit with another star the newly discovered micronova happen in very specific
binary systems that contain a white dwarf star possessing a strong magnetic field and a low-mass
normal star in such a system the white dwarf star can steal material mostly hydrogen from
its companion star if they're close enough as this happens and the gas falls onto the very hot
surface of the white dwarf it then triggers the hydrogen atoms to fuse into helium explosively
co-author Natalie Degeneres astronomer at the university of Amsterdam explains that
explosions and detonations such as these make the entire surface of the white dwarf burn and shine
brightly for several weeks micronova are similar explosions that are much smaller in scale and
also much faster lasting just several hours the reason for these explosions has been attributed to
accumulating columns of gas at white dwarfs poles where the hydrogen flows in a similar fashion to
how the earth's magnetic fields channel the solar wind to our planet's magnetic poles thus causing
auroras at the base of these accumulating columns of gas at the poles on the white dwarfs pressure
and temperature rise causing thermonuclear fusion which then converts the hydrogen into helium but
this fusion is violent and explosive causing the event that astronomers are now calling
a micro nova think of it as like a mind-bogglingly big thermonuclear bomb going off but what's
interesting about this new type of explosion is that it's localized and doesn't completely destroy
the white dwarf in fact the micronova cycle can actually repeat itself co-author of the study paul
groot says only a very small percentage of the white dwarf participates in this explosion which
is roughly about one millionth of the surface area translated to the earth this would be an
area of about say the city of london just because they're calling it a micronova don't let yourself
be fooled just one of these outbursts can burn through about 20 million trillion kilograms or
about 3.5 billion great pyramids of giza according to the team each micronova event
burns through material that's equivalent to one large asteroid or just over one millionth
of the earth's mass when comparing it to say a supernova kilonova or nova a micronova is much
more similar to anova an event which scientists and astronomers have known about for centuries
the discovery of micronovas is truly eye opening and adds beautifully to the repertoire of known
stellar explosions if anything it just goes to show how little we really know about the universe
and how much more we need to pay attention to the little details in space these events
may be extremely common but for us we're only just finding out about them the team now seeks
to capture more of these elusive events which will no doubt require large-scale surveys in
quick follow-up measurements skaringy concluded that the team would require
rapid response from telescopes such as the vlt eso's new technology telescope in the
whole suite of available instruments that will allow them to unravel so much more about these
mysterious new micro explosions and who knows perhaps they might even discover some new
types of stellar explosions while they're at it that's the beauty and mystery of space one blink
and you could miss it all that's all for today folks what are your thoughts on micronova's
let us know in the comments and please don't forget to smash that like button and subscribe
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