How does a star the mass of our Sun explode to become brighter than a galaxy? The key may be too much helium.
Shores of Cosmic Oceans
Observations of a white dwarf finds evidence of a Ceres-sized asteroid comprised of one third water.
Play It Again, Sam
Novas occur when a white dwarf orbits with another star and captures some of the star’s outer material. This material forms an accretion disk around the white dwarf, which gradually falls to its surface. When material accumulates on the surface of the white dwarf, it can trigger a nuclear explosion that causes it to brighten similar to a supernova, but not nearly as intense. Since the explosion doesn’t destroy the star, it is possible for a nova to occur again after more material has accumulated.
Dancing With the Stars
Last time I talked about how large stars can become a supernova through a collapse of their core. But this only occurs in stars much larger than our Sun. So how can a solar mass star become a supernova? For that, it has to dance with another star.
Frozen Star
When a star dies, there is a limit to how massive it can be, known as the Chandrasekhar limit.
Superhump
What’s a superhump? And what has it got to do with astronomy? It all has to do with binary stars. Specifically a binary system where one of the stars (usually a white dwarf) is capturing material from the other.