Violent stellar explosion produces highest-energy gamma-rays ever observed from a nova
Stefanie Waldek - Yesterday 6:25 AM
A small, dense star chowing down on its enormous dying neighbor caused a massive explosion that generated some of the highest-energy gamma-rays ever observed for a nova.
© Provided by Space
An artist's depiction of the recurrent nova system RS Ophiuchi.
The nova system, called RS Ophiuchi, produced the extremely high-energy gamma-rays during its latest thermonuclear explosion, observed by astronomers at the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich in August 2021.
Located 5,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Ophiuchus, RS Ophiuchi comprises one red giant star and one white dwarf that exist in a parasitic relationship called a recurrent nova system. The dense white dwarf absorbs hydrogen gas shed from the red giant's outer later, eventually acquiring so much material that the white dwarf overheats and erupts in a massive thermonuclear explosion called a nova. This occurs cyclically in recurrent nova systems, and for RS Ophiuchi, a cycle lasts approximately 15 years.
The team of astronomers observed RS Ophiuchi's most recent nova using the dual Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) telescopes in Spain's Canary Islands, which revealed the presence of highly energetic gamma-rays with a value of 250 gigaelectronvolts (GeV) — among the highest energies ever recorded for a nova.
The explosion created shock waves that accelerated particles to nearly the speed of light. Based on these observations, scientists now theorize that "gamma-rays emanate from energetic protons, nuclei of hydrogen atoms," the researchers said in a statement.
More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/violent-stellar-explosion-produces-highest-energy-gamma-rays-ever-observed-from-a-nova/ar-AAWw12Y?li=BBnb7Kz&cvid=bd1c3a83f5894084a348597c0382be3d#image=1
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I think of the Incredible Hulk. I used to watch that show and we wondered back then if gamma radiation could turn Bill Bixby into Lou Ferrigno. Those were simpler times. People are much more educated about that kind of stuff nowadays. 
