Astronomers first found a cosmic "time bomb"

A team of astronomers from the European Southern Observatory discovered planetary nebula in the center of the two stars, which are rough standards have to face each other through 700 million years, illuminating the space with light of a supernova. This discovery proves the theory about the existence of supernovae of type la and irregular shape of some nebulae.

The observation was carried out using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Space Agency, which is a combination of telescopes located on the Canary Islands. Finding dying star appeared somewhat as a surprise to the research team. The reason for this surprise was the question of why some stars around whose life cycle is coming to an end, the nebula formed asymmetrical.

Researchers found that in the planetary nebula Henize 2-428 are two white dwarf stars with a total mass of 1, 8 times the mass of our sun. They are already very small and compact orbit relative to each other is reduced every four hours, after a time, no doubt, lead to the collapse of the space.

Planetary nebula Henize 2-428. Presentation of the artist's em>



This observation brings the support of the theory of the formation of supernovae of type la, which appear at the moment when the white dwarf star acquires additional mass - in this case, the mass accumulated by the second star. When a star reaches the Chandrasekhar limit (upper limit of the weight at which a star can exist as a white dwarf), there is an explosion of a supernova.

"Until now the idea of ​​the formation of the type la supernova of two white dwarf stars was only theoretical," - explains an employee of the European Southern Observatory's David Jones.

"However, the presence of two stars in the nebula Henize 2-428 puts everything in its place and confirms earlier theories».

Opening of two white dwarfs, and monitor the process of degradation will help scientists better understand the process of formation of supernovae of type la. Video collision of two stars in the artistic representation can be seen in the video below: