NASA discovers glowing vampire star from Kepler space probe archives

Astronomers have spotted a strange white dwarf star that devours its captive companion and blazes intense light in a rare event called a "super-outburst."

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RESTRICTIONS: Broadcast: NO USE JAPAN, NO USE TAIWAN Digital: NO USE JAPAN, NO USE TAIWAN Astronomers have spotted a strange white dwarf star that devours its captive companion and blazes intense light in a rare event called a "super-outburst." NASA published the study in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

NASA says that the retired Kepler telescope, which revolved around the sun to search for exoplanets, had captured the archival footage that made this discovery possible." According to NASA's news release, the brown dwarf circles around the stellar vampire every 83 minutes at a distance of 400,000 km.

The white dwarf is about the size of the Earth, but its mass is equivalent to the Sun.

The little star's huge mass creates a powerful gravitational pull that sucks in matter from the brown dwarf which forms an accretion disk.

According to NASA, current theory speculates that when the accretion disk reaches a critical mass, its outer edge experiences gravitation resonance with the orbiting star.

The resonance heats up the accretion disk, raising the temperature from a normal high of 5,300 degrees Celcius to a peak of 11,700 degrees.

The study says that the enormous heat build up results in the blaze known as the super-outburst in a repetitive process." NASA further states that current theory does not explain why there is a long delay between each outburst.

RUNDOWN SHOWS: 1.

The vampire star has super-outbursts while absorbing stellar companion 2.

The binary star system consists of a white dwarf and an orbiting brown dwarf 3.

Gravity resonance causes white dwarf's accretion disk temperatures to spike 4.

High temperature lead to emission of intense light VOICEOVER (in English): "Astronomers have spotted a strange white dwarf star that devours its captive companion and blazes intense light in a rare event called a 'super-outburst.'" "NASA published the study in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society." "NASA says that the retired Kepler telescope, which revolved around the sun to search for exoplanets, had captured the archival footage that made this discovery possible." "According to NASA's news release, the brown dwarf circles around the stellar vampire every 83 minutes at a distance of 400,000 km." "The white dwarf is about the size of the Earth, but its mass is equivalent to the Sun." "The little star's huge mass creates a powerful gravitational pull that sucks in matter from the brown dwarf which forms an accretion disk." "According to NASA, current theory speculates that when the accretion disk reaches a critical mass, its outer edge experiences gravitation resonance with the orbiting star." "The resonance heats up the accretion disk, raising the temperature from a normal high of 5,300 degrees Celcius to a peak of 11,700 degrees." "The study says that the enormous heat build up results in the blaze known as the super-outburst in a repetitive process." SOURCES: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, NASA Hubble Site, Space.com https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-abstract/490/4/5551/5601385?redirectedFrom=fulltext https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2020/news-2020-07 https://www.space.com/rare-super-outburst-dwarf-system-vampire.html *** For story suggestions please contact tips@nextanimation.com.tw For technical and editorial support, please contact: Asia: +61 2 93 73 1841 Europe: +44 20 7542 7599 Americas and Latam: +1 800 738 8377