The final kiss of two stars
The final kiss of two stars
In the Great Magellanic Cloud and located about 160,000 light-years away from us is a very particular object. It is the VFTS 352 double star system, the most active nursery for new stars in the near universe. New observations of VLT (Very Large Telescope) ESO have revealed that we are facing one of the strangest objects ever found.
Image 1: Artistic representation of the binary system VFTS 352. Credits: ESO / L. Calçada.
Observed with the instrument FLAMES (Fiber Large Array Multi Element Spectrograph) of the VLT and as part of the VLT FLAMES survey of the Tarantula, it has been seen that the system consists of two very hot, bright and massive stars that orbit each other in just over a day shining with a powerful white-blue light due to the high temperatures they are at, of about 40,000º C In addition, the stars are so close together that their surfaces overlap, having formed a bridge between them.Vampire stars
These particular double stars are related to the strange behavior of the "vampire stars", where the smaller companion absorbs material from the surface of the largest, as can be seen in the article "Binary Interaction Dominates the Evolution of Massive Stars "(H. Sana et al, 2012, Sci 337, 444-446). But the case of VFTS 352 is very particular, since the size of the two stars is practically identical so the material is not attracted from one star to another, but they share it.
This type of system is very rare because the stage in which VFTS 352 is located is of an extremely short duration. "VFTS 352 is the best one of the cases found until now of massive and hot double star that presents this type of internal mixture", explains Leonardo A. Almeida, of the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) and main author of the article that exposes this investigation.
Image 2: Star formation region of the Tarantula. There is the VFTS 352 double star system, marked with a cross towards the center of the image. Credits: ESO / M.R. Cioni / VISTA Magellanic Cloud survey.
The two scenariosScientists still do not know how this "kiss" of the stars that make up VFTS 352 will end, but they have considered two possible scenarios:
1) The stars will end up merging into a magnetic giant fast-spinning star.
2) If the stars mix well enough, both will remain compact and the system will be able to avoid fusion.
In the event that this story unfolds according to scenario 2, it would take the objects down a new evolutionary path that would be outside of classical stellar evolution. They would end their lives as two simultaneous supernova explosions forming a binary system of black holes that would provide an intense source of the gravitational waves predicted by the general theory of Albert Einstein's relativity.
Regardless of how this story ends, the system has already provided astronomers with new and valuable information about the little-known evolutionary processes of massive contact binary star systems.
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The article associated with this research has been published in the journal Astrophysical Journal under the title "Discovery of the massive overcontact binary VFTS 352: Evidence for enhanced internal mixing", by L. Almeida et al.
The team consists of L.A. Almeida (Johns Hopkins University, United States, Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences / Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil), H. Sana (STScI, United States, KU Leuven, Belgium), S.E. of Mink (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands), F. Tramper (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands), I. Soszynski (Warsaw University Observatory, Poland), N. Langer (Universität Bonn, Germany), R.H. Barba (University of La Serena, Chile), M. Cantiello (University of California, United States), A. Damineli (Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil), A. de Koter (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Universiteit Leuven, Belgium ), M. Garcia (Center for Astrobiology / INTA-CSIC, Spain), G. Gr äfener (Armagh Observatory, United Kingdom), A. Herrero (Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, Spain, University of La Laguna, Spain), I Howarth (University College London, United Kingdom), J. Maíz Apellaniz (Center for Astrobiology / INTA-CSIC, Spain), C. Norman (Johns Hopkins University, United States), OH Ramírez-Agudelo (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands) and J.S. Vink (Armagh Observatory, United Kingdom).
Scientific article:
Image 2 is a composition in visible and infrared light captured by the WFI (Wide Field Imager) instrument of the 2.2 meter MPG / ESO telescope and by the VISTA telescope (Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy) in the following filters:
- V-band optical filter (WFI)
- Infrared V-band filter (VISTA)
- Optical filter in R-band (WFI)
- Infrared filter in J band (VISTA)
- Infrared filter in K-band (VISTA)
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