Astronomers find bizarre 'zombie supernova' that just won't die Astrophysicists have discovered one of the weirdest stars yet in the universe: one that refuses to die, exploding as a supernova multiple times over fifty years. Normally when large stars reach the end of their lives they terminally explode as a supernova with a burst of bright light and matter and that is that. But the …
If this is a antimatter star then this might be a light show in few years time.
Last antimatter supernova that exploded was at distance of 7 billion light years.
https://news.nd.edu/news/runaway-anti-matter-production-makes-for-a-spectacular-stellar-explosion/
https://www.universetoday.com/49885/another-antimatter-supernova-discovered/
This also might be a Pair-instability supernova.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pair-instability_supernova
Pulsational pair instability was my first thought from a reading of the article, until I got to its mass. They're definitely right about the need to revisit that theory if it turns out to be the case, since this one is much smaller than the agreed lower mass limit for that type of supernova.
I particularly like the fact that pair instability supernovae leave no remnant, generating enough energy to completely disrupt the star. Returning all of a star's material to the universe in that way feels less wasteful than leaving behind a degenerate object like a neutron star or black hole.
I think it would be an incredible coincidence for a stable multi-star system to form in the first place, and then after potentially hundreds of millions of years, for them to all go off within a few decades.
I don't know how close an ageing star would have to be to a supernova to be "set off" by the shockwave, or if that's even possible, but it also seems pretty implausible...
A small percentage of binary star pairs are closely matched in size (extra large) and also close physically. If it is possible to cook off a supernova, we'll eventually be seeing a distinctive 'double supernova' somewhere in the universe. Could be a long wait tho...
or rather the use of 'ideal' situations that we can understand more easily than practical solutions.
I've always worried about the use of 1as for marking distance - the caveat on 1as being a standard luminosity is that they dont rotate too fast - and the normal method of creation is accretion from a nearby star which will inevitably lead to incredibly high spins - possibly in the region where the pressure in the dwarf is reduced allowing far more matter to be accreted before detonation.
I should add that the recent gravity wave detection supports the use of 1as from mergers.
But assuming spheres is always going to cause problems in the busy realms of space.
Kimball Kinnison has found how to bring stars from another dimension with inert intrinsic velocities faster than the speed of light and is now inerting them to crash into the Star system that the Eddorians escaped to - its the Ultimate Ultimate Ultimate Super-weapon!
That is one of the possibilities actually. But it does depend on specific details on how long this object stays around, how far it goes with its fading, emission frequencies etc. and whether the old evidence El Reg speaks of is actually the same object or just in that general area - the details seems a bit sketchy so far.
If we are fortunately positioned to be looking at this through a wormhole then it has possibly only started going supernova on that side and we are witnessing a buffered light show stream on this side, with fluctuations in the 'tunnel' causing seemingly varying light intensities. Two astronomical observations for the price of one!
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