2023-11-25 20:05:27
Pioneering Discovery: Zombie Star Shows Signs of Life
In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have observed a distant star that appears to be rising from the dead, emitting signs of life in the form of active flares. This phenomenon, known as a “zombie star,” represents the first time such an event has been observed and raises intriguing questions about the nature of stellar corpses.
The first emissions from the star were discovered in September 2022 when scientists scanned data collected from a facility in California. Later in December, researchers observed an extremely bright explosion from the star, similar to an explosion that quickly faded. Surprisingly, the flares continued for several months, shining just as brightly as the star itself.
After months of observing the star, in recent days, it has sent new emissions indicating that it is trying to live again. Scientists now believe that these mysterious and extreme explosions arise from the remains of the star itself after its death, possibly in the form of a black hole or a neutron star, which continues to show activity.
Anna Wai Kew Ho, assistant professor of astronomy, stated, “This resolves years of controversy about what drives this type of explosion and reveals an unusually direct way to study the activity of stellar corpses.” The unique properties of these flares challenge traditional explanations, leaving researchers in awe of this previously unseen phenomenon in astronomy.
The researchers carefully examined the data and requested the support of more than 70 co-authors and 15 telescopes to ensure the validity of their findings. The star’s pulsating behavior was observed to be repeated at least 14 times over a period of 120 days, indicating that there may have been more events.
This research was documented in a recently published paper titled “Minute-long optical flares with supernova luminosity” in the popular scientific journal Nature. Despite this major progress, scientists are still striving to understand the basic processes that drive a dead star to continue behaving in this unusual way.
The term zombie star generally refers to a star that has died but continues to show signs of activity, such as emitting flares of light. Scientists believe that these bright flares originate from the corpse of the star itself, which could be in the form of a black hole or a neutron star.
Scientists are continuing their research to understand the basic mechanisms that drive the unusual behavior of dead stars and their ability to emit such intense light flares. This pioneering discovery opens up new possibilities for the study of stellar corpses and could lead to further insights into the nature of these enigmatic celestial objects.
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