A recent report from the W.M. Keck Observatory states that astronomers have observed what they believe is a rare teardrop-shaped star.
Research published in a recent issue of the journal Nature Astronomy says that the teardrop-shaped star is the result of two stars spiraling to their end, according to the W.M. Keck Observatory website.
The observatory said that the rare phenomena is the result of an eventual supernova.
“The tragic shape is caused by a massive nearby white dwarf distorting the star with its intense gravity, which will also be the catalyst for an eventual supernova that will consume both,” the observatory said. “Found by an international team of astronomers and astrophysicists led by the University of Warwick, it is one of only a very small number of star systems discovered that will one day see a white dwarf star reignite its core.”
The W. M. Keck Observatory has two 10-meter optical/infrared telescopes atop Maunakea.
Ingrid Pelisoli, of the University of Warwick Department of Physics, who was the lead author of the research, said scientists don't know what causes the stars to combust.
“We don’t know exactly how these supernovae explode, but we know it has to happen because we see it happening elsewhere in the universe,” she said, according to the W.M. Keck Observatory website. “One way is if the white dwarf accretes enough mass from the hot subdwarf, so as the two of them are orbiting each other and getting closer, matter will start to escape the hot subdwarf and fall onto the white dwarf.”
The Keck Observatory is a private 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that is operated in partnership with the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the W. M. Keck Observatory Visitor’s Center at the Observatory’s headquarters in Waimea, as well as the Visitor’s Gallery on Maunakea, are closed to the public until further notice.