AstronomyAstronomers discover eight new super-hot stars

Astronomers discover eight new super-hot stars

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A sky survey picture centred on the newly-discovered O(H) star SALT J203959.5-034117 (J2039). Credit score: Tom Watts (AOP), STScINASA, The Darkish Vitality Survey, Licence sort Attribution (CC BY 4.0)

A global group of astronomers has found eight of the most well liked stars within the universe, all with surfaces hotter than 100,000 levels Celsius. The work was revealed in Month-to-month Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.


The paper relies on knowledge gathered utilizing the Southern African Massive Telescope (SALT), the most important single optical telescope within the southern hemisphere, with a 10m x 11m mirror. The research describes how a survey of helium-rich subdwarf stars led to the invention of a number of extremely popular white dwarf and pre-white dwarf stars, the most well liked of which has a floor temperature of 180,000 levels Celsius. For comparability, the sun’s floor is a mere 5,800 levels.

One of many stars recognized is the central star of a newly found planetary nebula, which is one mild 12 months in diameter. Two of the others are pulsating, or “variable” stars. All of those stars are at a sophisticated stage of their life cycle and are approaching the top of their lives as white dwarfs. Resulting from their extraordinarily excessive temperatures, every of those new discoveries is a couple of hundred occasions brighter than the sun, which is taken into account uncommon for white dwarf stars.

White dwarfs are roughly the identical measurement as planet Earth, however one million occasions extra huge, with plenty nearer to that of the sun’s. They’re the densest stars in existence that encompass regular matter. Pre-white dwarfs are a couple of occasions greater and can shrink to develop into white dwarfs inside a couple of thousand years.

Simon Jeffery, an astronomer on the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, who led the analysis, says, “Stars with efficient temperatures of 100,000 levels Celsius or larger are extremely uncommon. It was an actual shock to search out so many of those stars in our survey. These discoveries will assist to extend our understanding of the late phases of stellar evolution they usually reveal that SALT is a improbable telescope for our venture.” He provides, “It has been thrilling to work with an skilled group, who collectively enabled the invention of the celebs, the evaluation of their atmospheres, and the invention of pulsations and a nebula in a really quick space of time.”

The College of Tuebingen’s Professor Klaus Werner, who co-authored the paper, feedback, “I’m proud to have helped develop this ground-breaking analysis. The invention of eight extremely popular white dwarf and pre-white dwarf stars and a brand new planetary nebula is vastly important, and we hope that these findings will assist to shed new mild on the formation of our galaxy.”

Dr. Itumeleng Monageng, of the Division of Astronomy, College of Cape City, and South African Astronomical Observatory, observes, “It’s an honor to have performed a component on this unbelievable discovery. The SALT survey of helium-rich sizzling subdwarfs was supposed to discover evolutionary pathways amongst teams of extremely developed stars.

“It’s fascinating to have found eight new extraordinarily sizzling stars within the course of, considered one of which is surrounded by a planetary nebula.”

Extra info:
C S Jeffery et al, Sizzling white dwarfs and pre-white dwarfs found with SALT, Month-to-month Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2023). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac3531

Quotation:
Astronomers uncover eight new super-hot stars (2023, January 9)
retrieved 9 January 2023
from https://phys.org/information/2023-01-astronomers-super-hot-stars.html

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