Many massive stars end their lives in a catastrophic explosion known as a supernova.
In a close binary system, the gravitationalinteractions with the second star will remove a large amount of material from the future supernova long before the final explosion. Such supernovae almost completely disappear after the explosion. In a single star, on the contrary, a massive star retains almost all of its mass until the very end.
Supernova SN 2018ivc in 200 days and 1000 daysafter the explosion. The ALMA images show that the brightness does not increase immediately. Image: NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, STScI/NASA, ST-ECF/ESA, CADC/NRC/CSA (left) and ESO/NAOJ/NRAO, K. Maeda et al. (on right)
In a new study, astrophysicists usedthe ALMA telescope to observe the supernova SN 2018ivc, which dimmed about 200 days after the initial explosion and shone again about a year later, the explosion subsided.
The study showed that in the intermediatea binary star system in which the second component is located quite far from the explosion site, about 1500 years before the supernova explosion, a large hollow shell formed in it. Particles ejected from the explosion did not reach this structure until sometime between 200 and 1000 days after the explosion. As a result, the researchers observed an unprecedented increase in brightness at millimeter wavelengths.
Simulation of an “intermediate” type supernova. Video: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), K. Maeda et al.
Astrophysicists believe that the new data will allow us to better understand the last stages of the evolution of massive stars.
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