Astronomers have discovered a novel type of adept that is absolutely dumbfound . The stars are covered in atomic number 8 and carbon or else of having a surface made of hydrogen and atomic number 2 . Astronomers call back that they may be the end Cartesian product of a peculiar and rare stellar collision .
To infer why this is peculiar , we take to view how star make elements . Stars for most of their lives are flux H particle in their core into helium . If they are massive enough , when the hydrogen runs out , star translate into red giants and set off merge helium into carbon and oxygen . If they are not massive enough they depart behind a atomic number 2 white gnome , which has just traces of C , oxygen , and nitrogen , element that are the ash of helium burning .
The same befall to red goliath , if they are not massive enough to go on to the next stage of fusion , they lead behind a carbon copy - oxygen - rich clean dwarf . But the stars reported in a new paper in theMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Lettershave an exterior rich in O and carbon , about 20 percent each of the surface composition . Underneath this peculiar control surface , the two star have a mass of helium .
“ Normally we expect stars with these surface compositions to have already finished burn helium in their sum , and to be on their way to becoming clean dwarf . These new stars are a severe challenge to our understanding of astral phylogenesis , ” steer generator Professor Klaus Werner , from the University of Tübingen , said in astatement .
So what give ? A possible solution was ply by astronomers from the University of La Plata and the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics . In a second paper , also published in theMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters , another team suggests that a merger between lily-white dwarfs could make the unusual star discovered .
“ We believe the stars discovered by our German fellow worker might have imprint in a very rarified variety of stellar merger result between two white dwarf star , ” said Dr Miller Bertolami of the Institute for Astrophysics of La Plata , lead author of the 2d paper . “ Usually , white gnome merger do not lead to the formation of stars enriched in carbon and oxygen but we consider that , for binary systems mould with very specific Mass , a carbon- and oxygen - racy white gnome might be disrupt and terminate up on top of a helium - rich one , leading to the formation of these principal . ”
Evolutionary models ca n’t excuse this chemical mechanism or the existence of these star , so more investigating and lesson , beyond wizard PG1654 + 322 and PG1528 + 025 discussed in this inquiry , is now needed .
