Unicorn V838: video of the explosion of a star, collected from photos of the Hubble telescope for 4 years

The constellation of the Unicorn, until 2000 being known only to astronomers, at the beginning of the new millennium, can be said to have become famous. The thing is that a star suddenly exploded in this constellation, V838 Unicorn, without any preconditions for an explosion.

At the same time, photographs of the explosion were obtained by the Hubble telescope, which for 4 years (from 2002 to 2006) regularly shot a star (or rather, what was left of it). All these photos were compiled into a single video, lasting 50 seconds.
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But the most interesting is that until recently, scientists could not understand why and how the V838 Unicorn exploded.

For a short time, this star increased to enormous size, and its luminosity before the explosion exceeded the luminosity of the Sun by 600 thousand times (if we accept the condition that both luminaries are at the same distance from us).



At the same time, the star is relatively young, which is inconsistent with the general rules for the formation of the New ones. Here is a quote from wiki :

“All new stars (as well as new and cataclysmic variables) are tight binary systems consisting of a white dwarf and a companion star, located on the main sequence, or have reached the red giant stage during the evolution and filled their Roche lobe. In such systems, the substance of the outer layers of the companion star to the white dwarf through the Lagrange point L1 flows; the flowing substance forms an accretion disk around the white dwarf; the composition of the gas falling on a white dwarf is typical for the outer layers of red giants and main sequence stars — more than 90% of hydrogen. ”

According to a joint team of researchers from the United States Naval Observatory, the University of Arizona and the European Space Agency, there is still no satisfactory explanation of the causes of the explosion of this star. True, last year a study of domestic scientists was published , where an explanation was given for such unexpected outbursts.

It is worth noting that the V838 Unicorn is located 20 thousand light years away.

Via dailymail