Why the 'dead body' exploded many times over 50 years

Astronomers discovered that a particular star is at least 50 times larger than the Sun and does not "die" after many times exploded.

An international team of researchers identified a star that exploded many times in 50 years, challenging all human knowledge of the process of dying . The results are published in Nature yesterday, according to the International Business Times.

Illustration of supernova explosion.(Photo: South European Observatory).

The rare supernova named iPTF14hls was first observed by astronomers in 2014. At first, the star did not seem anything unusual. But a few months later, the team at the Los Cumbres Observatory noticed that the supernova became brighter after the initial explosion dissipated, something they had never encountered.

Usually, supernova reaches maximum brightness before fading after about 100 days. But iPTF14hls are getting brighter in two years. When astronomers examined archival data, they were amazed at the evidence that the star had actually exploded in 1954 and still exists.

"This supernova breaks everything we know about how they happen. This is the biggest puzzle I've encountered in nearly a decade of studying exploding stars," said Iair Arcavi, head of the research team at Dai. California, Santa Barbara and Las Cumbres Observatory, share.

The process of forming supernova explosions.(Video: YouTube).

IPTF14hls supernova may be the first example of the "pulsational pair instability supernova" name explosion . This process occurs when super-massive stars have cores that are so hot that energy changes into antimatter, causing the explosion to blow away the outer shell while the core remains intact.

The process can be repeated for decades before the star explodes for the last time, collapsing inside and turning into a black hole. However, it is possible that iPTF14hls supernovae are entirely new because "pulsational pair" does not explain all the data the team collected about the event.

Astronomers in Las Cumbres will continue to watch iPTF14hls, the star remains bright since its discovery three years ago.