Astronomers spot unusual stellar explosion rich in oxygen and magnesium

A examine led from the College of Turku, Finland, found a supernova explosion that expands the understanding of the later life phases of large stars.

Supernova explosions are produced on the deaths of massive stars. The weather seen in a supernova mirror the composition of the dying star on the time of explosion.

“Stars are glowing balls of gasoline of largely hydrogen, the lightest ingredient in nature. They shine by fusing atomic nuclei collectively to create heavier parts and vitality,” explains Academy of Finland Analysis Fellow Hanindyo Kuncarayakti from the Division of Physics and Astronomy on the College of Turku, Finland.

Large stars, which have round eight occasions the mass of the sun or extra, have layers of subsequently heavier elements than hydrogen, similar to helium, carbon, then oxygen, and so forth.

“Throughout its lifetime, a star might lose some, and even most, of its mass. The commonest method is thru ejecting streams of particles, a course of referred to as stellar winds, which happen additionally within the sun. Some stars lose their mass very vigorously, and should utterly strip all of their hydrogen envelope. Consequently, the inside layers might develop into uncovered. The mass misplaced by the star might stay within the neighborhood of the star, creating circumstellar matter,” says Kuncarayakti.

Astronomers have beforehand recognized supernovae with circumstellar matter wealthy in hydrogen, in addition to these wealthy in helium. Very just lately, solely in 2021, researchers have found supernovae with carbon-oxygen circumstellar matter. These completely different sorts of objects characterize a sequence of stellar envelope stripping and the buildup of stripped matter across the star, ranging from the lightest and outermost ingredient—hydrogen.

A staff led by Academy Analysis Fellow Kuncarayakti has found a supernova that presumably extends our understanding of this sequence the place large stars lose their mass. Supernova (SN) 2021ocs was noticed in a survey utilizing the 8.2-m European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Massive Telescope (VLT) in Chile.

“The spectrum regarded like nothing we have now seen earlier than. It had sturdy options of oxygen and magnesium, and the thing was unusually long-lasting and blue,” Kuncarayakti says.

These observations recommend that the oxygen-magnesium-rich increasing gasoline from the explosion of SN 2021ocs could possibly be crashing into circumstellar matter. Such circumstellar matter might have been fashioned by the precursor star through mass loss solely round 1,000 days previous to the supernova explosion. As such, the observations act like a time machine, probing the dying star’s actions shortly earlier than the ultimate explosion.

“By observing new sorts of supernovae, we achieve worthwhile details about the later phases of lifetime of large stars. This, then again, creates new challenges for our theories on stars’ evolution,” says Professor of Astronomy Seppo Mattila from the College of Turku who additionally participated within the examine.

The examine was revealed in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.