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Astronomy Picture of the Day - Explosions from White Dwarf Star RS Oph
APOD.NASA.gov ^ | 22 Aug, 2021 | Illustration Credit & Copyright: David A. Hardy & PPARC

Posted on 08/22/2021 4:02:38 PM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: Spectacular explosions keep occurring in the binary star system named RS Ophiuchi. Every 20 years or so, the red giant star dumps enough hydrogen gas onto its companion white dwarf star to set off a brilliant thermonuclear explosion on the white dwarf's surface. At about 5,000 light years distant, the resulting nova explosions cause the RS Oph system to brighten up by a huge factor and become visible to the unaided eye. The red giant star is depicted on the right of the above drawing, while the white dwarf is at the center of the bright accretion disk on the left. As the stars orbit each other, a stream of gas moves from the giant star to the white dwarf. Astronomers speculate that at some time in the next 100,000 years, enough matter will have accumulated on the white dwarf to push it over the Chandrasekhar Limit, causing a much more powerful and final explosion known as a supernova. Starting early this month, RS Oph was again seen exploding in a bright nova.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; astronomy; nasa; rsophiuchi; science
To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).
1 posted on 08/22/2021 4:02:38 PM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 08/22/2021 4:02:59 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber
Pinging the APOD list.

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

Today's picture is an illustration.

3 posted on 08/22/2021 4:03:37 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

For a star with dwarfism, size discrimination can lead to ridicule.

However In the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, and other English-speaking countries, labels that some stars with dwarfism accept include dwarf, little star (LS), or star of short stature.


4 posted on 08/22/2021 4:07:16 PM PDT by algore ( )
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To: algore

Be careful or you will upset Black Holes Matter (BHM). They can be quite destructive.


5 posted on 08/22/2021 5:06:50 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

I feel for that giant ‘Red’ as it has its substance constantly sucked off by its dwarf ‘White’ companion! Is there a cosmological chapter of the American Indian Movement around to stage the appropriate protest?


6 posted on 08/22/2021 5:38:46 PM PDT by SES1066 (Ask not what the LEFT can do for you, rather ask what the LEFT is doing to YOU!)
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