Areca illustration. Credit: NASA, ESA, and E. Wheatley (STSCI)
A new study by an international team of researchers has revealed that it will be another million years until the giant red star Batalzuez dies in a fiery explosion.
The study was led by Dr. Was performed by Meredith Joyce Australian Australian National University (ANU), gives the Batlageus a new lease on life, but also shows that it is closer and smaller to Earth than previously thought.
Dr. Joyce says that the supergiant – which is part of the Orion constellation – has long fascinated scientists. But lately, he’s been behaving strangely.
“It’s usually one of the brightest stars in the sky, but we’ve observed two drops in the brightness of the Battlesews since late 2019,” said Dr. It’s Joyce.
“It simply came to our notice then. But our study offers a different explanation.
“We know that the first obscure incident involved a cloud of dust. We found that another small event was probably due to the beating of the star. “
Researchers were able to use hydrodynamic and seismic modeling to learn more about the physics that drive these beats – and get a clear idea of what stage of life it is.
The co-author of the University of Tokyo, Dr. According to Shing-chi Leung, the analysis “confirms that the pressure waves – essentially, the sound waves – were the cause of the pulsation of the betalus.”
“It burns helium in its roots at the moment, which means it’s nowhere near an explosion,” said Dr. Joyce said.
“We’ll look at about 100,000 years before the eruption.”
The co-author of the Concoli Observatory in Budapest, Dr. Lazli Molner says the study also found out how big the BattleJues are, and how far they are from Earth.
“The actual body size of the battalions has remained a mystery – previous studies suggest it may be larger than orbit. Jupiter. Our results show that the betalus extends only two-thirds, with a radius of 750 times the radius of the Sun, “said Dr. Molner.
“Once the physical size of the star was determined, we were able to determine the distance from the earth. Our results show that it is only 530 light years from us – 25 percent closer than previously thought. “
The good news is that BattleJues is too far from Earth to explode here, which has a significant impact here.
“It’s still a really big deal when the supernova leaves. And this is our closest candidate. It rarely gives us a chance to study what happens to stars like this before they explode, ”said Dr. Joyce.
The study was funded by The Qawwali Institute for Physics and Mathematics at the University (WPI), University of Tokyo and facilitated by the ANU Distinguished Visitor Program. It involved researchers from the United States, Hungary, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, as well as Australia, Australia and Japan.
The study has been published in Astrophysical Journal.
Reference: “Stand on the shoulders of the Giants: Mesadith Joyce, Shing-Chi Leung, Lazla Molner, Michael Ireland, Chiki Kobayashi and Casa’a by Hydrodynamic Simulation by MESA for Bytalus New Mass and Distance Estimation Nomato, October 13, Astrophysical Journal.
DOI: 10.3847 / 1538-4357 / ABB 8 dB
