Scientists at the University of Heidelberg (Germany) have discovered the first bare star of average mass, which is the missing link in the evolution of binary systems of massive stars. The results of the research were published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Astronomers name bare giant stars that have lost most of their layers and reveal a dense core. Most of these stars form in binary star systems, where the second star receives the matter from the first.
For a long time the existence of medium-mass stars was not confirmed. In particular, only low-mass nude stars (sub-dwarfs) as well as massive nude stars known as Wolf-Rayet stars have been studied.
With the help of the Very Large Telescope in Chile, scientists have discovered that a star that was previously considered a single object is a binary system consisting of a medium-mass star and a rapidly rotating companion that rotates due to the “fence” of matter. from another star
The system itself is located in the nearby dwarf galaxy Small Magellanic Cloud (LMC), where stars contain less heavy elements than massive stars in the Milky Way. Models of stellar evolution predict that a star with an exposed core could explode as a supernova, leaving a remnant in the form of a neutron star. In turn, the companion will begin to release matter, as a result of which in the future the entire system may be the progenitor of X-ray binaries and the merger of two neutron stars.
Earlier astronomers to create a star that burns the atmosphere of a companion planet.