Researchers conducted the first-ever near-infrared analysis of an extragalactic recurrent nova and found it is one of the hottest nova explosions ever discovered.
An illustration of a nova explosion erupting after a white dwarf siphons too much material from its larger stellar companion. Groundbreaking observations of a repeating explosion in space, the recurrent nova LMCN 1968-12a, reveal that it's the hottest burst of its kind ever recorded. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby satellite galaxy of the Milky Way , LMCN 1968-12a is the first recurrent nova outside our galaxy to have been studied in near-infrared light. Beyond its extreme temperatures, this nova is also notable for being an extremely violent eruption with unique chemical properties that differ significantly from those observed in our galaxy, the researchers explained in a paper published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . Seeing dead stars When a white dwarf, the leftover core of a collapsed star, is in a tight orbit around another star, it can pull material from that star, leading to some pretty dramatic astronomical events. One of these is called a nova, which means "new" in Latin. This event results in a bright flash in the sky, as if a new star had appeared, and lasts a few weeks or months before fading. When the dust clears, the original stars remain (unlike in a supernova , which happens when a star is completely destroyed). In the binary system, as the white dwarf steals gas from its younger companion, the accumulated material forms an accretion disk around the white dwarf. Matter swirls in the disk, and when it reaches the white dwarf's surface and piles up, the pressure and temperature rise so high that it ignites a rapid burning of hydrogen into heavier elements. This is known as a thermonuclear runaway reaction. Related: Scientists find evidence of 'supernova graveyard' at the bottom of the sea — and possibly on the surface of the moon Sign up for the Live…