Astronomers struggle to explain ‘zombie star’ that keeps exploding but won’t die

I don't know is what we should be hearing about the star that will not stop exploding.

A star is supposes to go through steps that progress a star through stages. It explodes-super nova, ends up a super dense neutron star or even a black hole. But this star warmly identified as iPTF14hls does not fit that profile.

We humans like to pretend we know a lot about space and the various objects that we’ve observed in it, but at the end of the day we find ourselves scratching our heads more often than not. The latest and perhaps best example of this is a star called iPTF14hls, which keeps exploding but refuses to actually die, like some sort of stellar zombie. Isn’t space awesome?

Typically, when a star explodes in a supernova, it’s a sign that the star is progressing in its life cycle, erupting in a firestorm that decimates everything in its path and ultimately results in either a burnt out blob of incredibly dense matter, a neutron star, or even a black hole. iPTF14hls refuses to do any of those things, and has instead decided to just keep exploding over and over again.

bgr.com...

1954 the star went all supernova and everyone thought cool, now on the the next logical and expected stage in the star's life cycle. Hold the phone, the star went and exploded again in 2014. And the star is way too bright and there is proof in the way the light from the star is peaking and then fading that it is still exploding-over and over.
Why is this happening-- There are some theories about it creating anti-matter because of the heat and mass of the star. but it does not fit the mold of a regular "dying" star.

The researchers explain that a supernova of the star was observed way back in 1954, at which point science would have us believe that it was about to move past that stage and enter whatever comes next, but that’s not what happened.
Instead, the star exploded once again in 2014, and this time scientists kept a close eye on its behavior afterwards. The supernova remained bright for several times longer than is typical of a star detonation, maintaining its incredibly brightness for nearly two years before finally starting to dim. During that time, its brightness would dip and peak by as much as half, suggesting it was repeatedly detonating over and over again.

“This supernova breaks everything we thought we knew about how they work,” lead author Iair Arcavi explains. “It’s the biggest puzzle I’ve encountered in almost a decade of studying stellar explosions.”

Binary ?? really close binary ?

The brightness varied by as much as 50% on an irregular timescale, as if it was exploding over and over again.[3] Also, rather than cooling down as expected, the star maintained a near-constant temperature of about 5,700°C

Wiki

Cool find. It seems to be combusting as if its becoming a sun.

a reply to: KonquestAbySS

I bet new papers are being written as we speak trying to explain this.

If it were becoming a sun that would be really neat. Kinda like some cosmic recycling? Going from a star-exploding multiple times then going back to a star.
Either way, new info introduced into the astrophysics realm.

I want one.

Maybe an elusive white hole?

white hole!

a reply to: SgtHamsandwich

#Whiteholesmatter

a reply to: seasonal

Doesn't this violate a law of thermodynamics?

a reply to: seasonal



#killallwhiteholes

a reply to: DBCowboy

I wish I knew, and I bet there are some really really smarty pants scientists that wish they knew too.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

#whiteholesanitmatter

Sounds like an Ori "Supergate" opening up...

...better alert the SGC...

a reply to: seasonal

I wonder if maybe the system has massive excess amounts of hydrogen allowing the star to 'refuel' so to speak.

a reply to: seasonal

Just speculation but could the star possibly be caught in some kind of infinite cause-effect loop or boot-strap paradox?

Or possibly exist in an area of space-time that is nonlinear by nature?

Then again if it did it probably would not be observable to us.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: seasonal

Just speculation but could the star possibly be caught in some kind of infinite cause-effect loop or boot-strap paradox?

Or possibly exist in an area of space-time that is nonlinear by nature?

Imagine a bucket of water spilling in an infinite time loop.

We capture the water.

Then we capture the water again.

And again.

And again.

Not saying you're wrong, but we'd have an infinite supply of water from a finite source.

Now it is light and energy instead of water, but we still get more "out" of the equation than what is initially there which is in violation of the law of thermodynamics.


Things like this hurt my tiny little mind.

a reply to: seasonal


Could it be in a time loop?

a reply to: seasonal

I think I figured it out!!!


....



MANDELA EFFECT!!!

a reply to: Vector99

You had to go ruin the fun & games by bringing a sensible idea to the table. It's not big, and it's not...wait..

a reply to: Vector99

That's better...