How are extreme "blue supergiant" stars born? Astronomers may finally know
By Robert Lea published 8 hours ago
"The newly born stars live as blue supergiants throughout the second-longest phase of a star's life, when it burns helium in its core."
illustration of a yellow star and a blue star circling close to each other
A red giant star and a smaller and younger companion approach each other in a prelude to a collision that will birth a blue supergiant star. (Image credit: Casey Reed/NASA)
Astronomers may have solved the mystery of how some of the brightest and hottest stars in the cosmos are born.
The team, led by researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), found clues that suggest blue supergiants are created when two stars in a binary system spiral together and merge.
B-type blue supergiant stars are at least 10,000 times brighter, two to five times hotter and 16 to 40 times more massive than the sun. Blue supergiants are so extreme that scientists have theorized that they may have been created during a rare and brief phase of stellar evolution.
The problem with this idea is that it should mean blue supergiants are a rare sight, yet they are commonly observed throughout the universe. As a result, their origins have puzzled scientists for decades.
More:
https://www.space.com/blue-supergiant-stars-origin-mystery-solved
