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Stars are the source of nearly all the matter in existence today, making them undeniably significant. Whether they erupt in fiery explosions or collide with one another, these stellar events are responsible for creating the elements that enable the Internet—and the people behind it—to thrive.
Stars engage in all kinds of wild phenomena. They can expel enormous gas clouds, outshine entire galaxies in an instant, consume their companions to rejuvenate, and twist the very fabric of physics in astonishing ways.
10. A Star Exhales Before It Erupts
Supernovae typically fade over weeks or months, but fast-evolving luminous transients (FELTs) “flare up momentarily [and] vanish” within just a few days.
Take the case of KSN2015K, a stellar event 1.3 billion light-years away, which detonated 2.2 days before hitting peak brightness, only to fade away after three weeks. This duration is just one-tenth of the expected length for a type Ia supernova, whose freshly gained radioactivity provides its dazzling shine.
A year prior to KSN2015K's explosion, it let out a puff of gas, a sort of stellar burp. When the star finally detonated, the expelled star debris collided with the expanding burp cloud, creating a brief yet spectacular flash in the sky.
9. A Magnetar Emits a Slow Gamma-Ray Burst
In the early 1990s, astronomers detected an extraordinarily bright radio signal, rivaling the most powerful in the universe. This enigmatic source then faded over the next 23 years, marking the first identification of an “orphan” gamma-ray burst (GRB), the afterglow of the most powerful explosions in the cosmos.
Regular GRBs typically last about a minute and are believed to occur when neutron stars or black holes collide, or when stars collapse into black holes. However, this prolonged event demonstrates that a GRB can also occur at the opposite end of the time spectrum.
This event originated from a tumultuous star-forming (and dying) region located 284 million light-years away, teeming with energetic bursts and deadly magnetars. It was one of these magnetars, the remnant of a star 40 times more massive than the Sun, that likely triggered the GRB.
8. A Neutron Star Rotates 716 Times Per Second
About 28,000 light-years away in the Sagittarius constellation lies a globular cluster called Terzan. Inside it is a neutron star that spins at an astonishing 716 times per second.
In simpler terms, this object, which is nearly twice as massive as the Sun but compressed into a ball just 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide, spins twice as fast as your blender.
The 716-hertz neutron star, PSR J1748-2446ad, has reached its maximum size. Any larger, and its rapid spin would send pieces of itself flying into its own orbit.
7. A White Dwarf Comes Back to Life by Devouring Its Companion
X-rays are classified as soft or hard. Soft X-rays require gases heated to several hundred thousand degrees, while hard X-rays come from cosmic furnaces that reach temperatures of tens of millions of degrees.
Now, strange supersoft X-rays are emanating from a white dwarf. While fusion was one possible explanation, ASASSN-16oh isn't undergoing fusion. Instead, the X-rays are likely generated by the shock of matter colliding as the white dwarf siphons material from its companion star.
The white dwarf will continue to feast on its partner until it overindulges, causing both stars to meet their demise in a spectacular supernova explosion.
6. A Neutron Star Burns Its Companion
Neutron stars have a mass limit, but astronomers have recently identified one that exceeds these limits. The former most massive neutron star, PSR J0348+0432, had a mass of 2.01 solar masses.
The newly discovered PSR, PSR J2215+5135, is a millisecond pulsar—an ultra-magnetic, rapidly spinning neutron star.
It has an adorable companion star, only 0.33 solar masses. They are so close that they orbit each other in just 4.14 hours, with the larger PSR bombarding its smaller partner with intense radiation, causing one side to stay in constant darkness while the other shines with radioactivity.
5. A Star Gives Birth to Its Own Companion
Researchers discovered a disk around the star MM 1a. Upon closer inspection, they found not planets, but an entire baby star, MM 1b.
By analyzing the light frequency from the disk and measuring the radiation, astronomers determined that MM 1a is a massive 40 solar masses, while the young MM 1b is just a tiny half-solar mass.
This stark contrast likely occurred because the gas-and-dust disk was too massive, and its powerful gravity tore it into pieces.
However, the colossal MM 1a is so massive that it guarantees a short life span for the entire system, as massive stars have brief lives before undergoing magnificent supernova explosions.
4. Stars with Brilliant Comet-Like Tails
Comets streak through the sky, and some stars do something similar on a much grander scale. Take the massive, ultrahot stars in Westerlund 1, a stellar cluster located 12,000 light-years away inside the Milky Way.
Comets develop their tails when they’re struck by the solar wind, a stream of charged particles blasting from the Sun. As a result, their tails always point away from the Sun.
Star tails behave in a similar manner. However, they stretch outward from the center of the cluster, being pulled like cotton candy by the intense radiation from the many brilliant, young stars.
3. Supernovae That Destroy Entire Clusters
Star clusters usually disband slowly over time as material gradually leaks away, but researchers have discovered a more abrupt and violent way this can happen. A neutron star can end up racing through space at hundreds of kilometers per second after being ejected from its gas cloud.
Simulations reveal that, although neutron stars make up only 2 percent of a star cluster’s total mass, this ‘natal kick’ can propel the cluster to disintegrate up to four times faster than normal. These small but massive monsters therefore have the power to shape the future of countless stars and star systems across the cosmos.
2. A Dead Star Gains a Halo
Neutron stars emit X-ray and radio radiation, which are the wavelengths scientists use to study them.
A strange new neutron star, RX J0806.4-4123, is so unusually hot that it emits a remarkable infrared signature visible up to 200 AU, which is five times the distance from the Sun to Pluto.
And it's likely quite a sight. This unexpected heat could be the result of a massive disk of material ejected by a supernova explosion, which then reaccumulated around the neutron star.
Another equally groundbreaking theory is that the star's magnetic field might be launching charged particles into space. As the star moves through the universe, these particles create shocks when they collide with interstellar dust and gas.
1. Stars That Pulse Mysteriously
Blue Large-Amplitude Pulsators (BLAPs) are peculiar stars that don’t follow the usual rules. Despite their blue appearance, they are smaller than expected. Even stranger, they pulse by rapidly dimming and then brightening.
A gravitational lens survey has identified roughly 12 BLAPs from a pool of about a billion stars observed, and they stand out as completely unique.
As these stars pulse, their brightness fluctuates by as much as 45 percent, all within spans of 20 to 40 minutes. This is like the Sun freezing and then boiling us, all during the length of a typical TV show.
Scientists are still puzzled about how BLAPs function, but they might be an unusual type of merged binary star. Another possibility is that they were once large, puffier blue stars that somehow shed their outer layers.
