When Is a Nova Not a ‘Nova’? When a White Dwarf and a Brown Dwarf Collide

26/08/2024 3 min Episodio 72
When Is a Nova Not a ‘Nova’? When a White Dwarf and a Brown Dwarf Collide

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Síntesis del Episodio


Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international team of astronomers found evidence that a white dwarf(the elderly remains of a star like the Sun) and a brown dwarf(a failed star without the mass to sustain nuclear fusion) collided in a short-lived blaze of glory that was witnessed on Earth in 1670 asNovasub Capite Cygni (a New Star below the Head of the Swan), which is now known as CK Vulpeculae.