wet1
04-06-02, 03:56 PM
What Happens When You Fuse Two Dying Stars
25 March 2002: Rare objects called extreme helium stars give out more energy than they ought to produce by nuclear processes, and some are known to get hotter every year. A new set of computer models, capping two decades of research, suggests why. Astronomers Simon Jeffery of the Armagh Observatory and Hideyuki Saio of Tohoku University say the stars are the result of mergers between two white dwarfs, aged stars that were mostly burnt out. One simulation paired two white dwarfs heavy in helium. The merger rekindled thermonuclear fusion after a violent collision that lasted only minutes. The results are published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The above from Space.com
25 March 2002: Rare objects called extreme helium stars give out more energy than they ought to produce by nuclear processes, and some are known to get hotter every year. A new set of computer models, capping two decades of research, suggests why. Astronomers Simon Jeffery of the Armagh Observatory and Hideyuki Saio of Tohoku University say the stars are the result of mergers between two white dwarfs, aged stars that were mostly burnt out. One simulation paired two white dwarfs heavy in helium. The merger rekindled thermonuclear fusion after a violent collision that lasted only minutes. The results are published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The above from Space.com