The mystery of giant stars: Do they explode?

According to a new project, some giant stars may not explode like supernovae. Instead, scientists estimate that they merely decay into black holes or if they explode, they will not be as serious as the deaths of smaller stars. However, this statement was suspected by many astronomers.

How stars die depends on their mass. For example, our Sun will bulge into a giant red star before becoming a white dwarf. The heavier stars will explode into meteor explosions. The new finding suggests that stars with masses of 20-30 times the mass of the Sun will probably not explode but collapse into black holes.

The work also estimates that stars less than seven times the mass of the Sun clearly have enough energy to explode into a meteor. The study is based in part on the Hubble telescope's study of a multi-star explosion image. The team also surveyed supernova SN2006bc, taken when it faded several months after the explosion.

Looking for the precursor to meteor

Queen Belfast astronomers in Northern Ireland, led by astronomers Stephen J. Smartt and Mark Crockett, have retrieved photos of SN2006bc as part of a long-term research project for stars giant explodes - meteor. Exactly what kind of star will explode and the smallest mass of a star that can produce a meteor is still a mystery.NASA and other agencies often list the volume limit for meteor formation of eight solar masses.

As part of a search for a meteorite precursor for 10 years, each time a meteor was discovered in a nearby galaxy, Smart and colleagues began searching for images of Hubble previously taken to the same celestial body. to determine if the star will explode later. Often they will find a star among hundreds of millions of stars in the galaxy. Smart thinks this is like sitting day in and day out studying video tapes just to find a suspicious frame.

If astronomers detect stars at the location of a later explosion, they will be able to calculate the mass and type of stars based on its brightness and color. Some such stars were identified before they exploded and the Queen's team studied the five characteristics of these stars.

Super-massive red stars with 30 times the mass of the Sun are thought to explode into Type II-P meteorites, stars formed from stellar decay and subsequent massive explosions. However, according to the analysis, the team found that no really big stars ever exploded, suggesting that the super-massive red stars have masses around 18 to 30 times the Sun may have decayed to form holes. black without producing meteors or a meteor that is faintly visible.

The supernova findings were published in detail at the Royal Astronomical Society's national meeting in Belfast.

Explosion of a giant star.(Photo: pufone.org)

The statements are inflated?

However, other celestial physicists argue that these statements have been overstated, asking questions about the results of assessing giant stars that do not explode into meteors.

According to Adam Riess, astrophysicist at John Hopkins University and the Space Science Telescope Research Institute in Baltimore, Hubble's scientific operations agency, 'My main concern is whether they Have enough data to confirm the above. It is almost conclusive that there is no civilization that is more advanced than us because they have not contacted us. A kind of reasoning based on absence. But this is reasonable. '

Crockett said it was possible that the giant stars actually produced meteorites but disappeared without them observing 'however, as the events in our observation pattern increased, the likelihood increased. reduced.'

Weidong Li, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, agrees that nearly all meteorite precursors are 25 times lower than the Sun , so many research groups have questioned fate. the last of the great stars.

'However, massive stars are usually rarer than big stars, so the fact that we investigate about a dozen large star precursors does not mean that stars larger than the Sun will 25 times return. back into a black hole without causing a supernova explosion or too weak to be observed. '

In fact, supernovae are likely due to the massive stars that have been observed, although their precursors are not yet (because meteor regions are not yet taken by the Hubble telescope or telescopes. Put on other ground observations). He suggested SN2006gy meteor as an example, and he and his colleagues had done a research on that star. Li told Space.com that "This supernova might be the result of a supernova explosion of an extremely massive star, 60 times more massive than the Sun."

Meteor Star SN2006bc.(Photo: BBC)

Hubble's SN2006bc meteor shot shows a sharp, clear view of a spiral galaxy NGC 2397. This classic spiral galaxy has striking dust lanes along the edge of its swirls, in the image are dark patches and shadows that shine against starlight.Hubble's resolution is useful for studying each star in nearby galaxies.

Located nearly 60 million light-years from Earth, galaxy NGC 2397 is a type of galaxy typical of most spirals, with most older red and yellow stars at the center while star formation still takes place. in outer twists, more blue.The brightest star in the young blue stars can be viewed from a high-resolution angle captured by the Hubble research camera (ACS)

This image was taken on September 14, 2006 by ACS.