Meet the Micronova: Astronomers Discover a Strange New Stellar Explosion

There has been a new discovery regarding the way that stars can explode and it was published in Nature by a team of astronomers. The astronomers found these small, faster stellar explosions and they have named them micronovae. These explosions have the ability to flare up in mere minutes and can also fade in just a few hours. They believe that when a white dwarf pulls in material from a nearby star, these micronovae are formed and they trigger a thermonuclear reaction.

Key Takeaways:

A micronova happens when a white dwarf’s magnetic field draws in material from a nearby star, causing an explosion.
A team from Durham University looked at three white dwarfs that were behaving strangely.
The researchers may have found a new type of stellar explosion that can explain past flareups among white dwarfs.

“One thermonuclear reaction sets off a series of others, so the whole surface of the star is engulfed in what’s called a thermonuclear runaway.”