An international team of astronomers led by the Canary Institute for Astrophysics has discovered how some of the brightest and hottest stars in the Universe (blue supergiants) are born. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Astrophysical Journal Letters (TAJL).
Blue B-type supergiants are very bright and hot stars with masses ranging from 16 to 40 times that of the Sun (at least 10 thousand times brighter and 2-5 times hotter than the Sun). Until recently, it remained a mystery where such objects came from and why they are relatively common in space.
By simulating new star models and analyzing a large sample of data from the Large Magellanic Cloud (a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way), scientists have found compelling evidence that most blue supergiants may form from the merger of two stars bound into a single system.
“By taking into account the interaction and mixing of two stars during the collision, we simulated the merger of evolved giant stars with their smaller companion stars in a wide range of parameters. Newborn stars exist as blue supergiants throughout the entire second phase, that is, until they run out of helium in their cores,” he explained. The author of the scientific study is IAC expert Athira Menon.
In the future, the team plans to investigate how blue supergiants interact with neutron stars and black holes.
Earlier astronomers clarified The mystery of the abnormally fast rotation of red supergiant Betelgeuse.