Oddball Stellar Duo Creates Spectacular Fireworks
Located about 700 light-years from Earth, R Aquarii is one of the closest stars known to undergo massive violent eruptions that spew out huge quantities of processed nuclear material into the surrounding space. R Aquarii belongs to the symbiotic class of 150 known variable stars. The symbiotic classification borrows its name from the word “symbiosis” in biology, whereby two different types of organisms co-exist. In astronomy, a symbiotic system is composed of two very different types of stars: a cool red giant star and a small white dwarf companion (a hot burned-out star). They are embedded inside a glowing nebula produced by gas escaping the red giant.
In 1939, Edwin Hubble first detected the expansion of this nebula. In the 1970s astronomers found jets of matter streaming in opposite directions – resembling a lawn sprinkler. Astronomers now know R Aquarii has actually experienced a series of violent eruptions – the latest one probably occurring in the late 1970’s. This happens when the dwarf star swings close to the red giant primary star, siphons off hydrogen, and then the dwarf star undergoes a spontaneous thermonuclear explosion on its surface. Since 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has been observing R Aquarii, and its latest images reveal colorful, twisted filaments stretching far from this unusual stellar duo, resembling the patterns made by a child’s Spirograph toy.
This video features five frames spanning from 2014 to 2023 of R Aquarii. These frames show the brightness of the central binary changing over time due to strong pulsations in the red giant star. The central structures spiral outward due to their interaction with material previously ejected by the binary. This timelapse highlights the value of Hubble’s high resolution optical observations in the changing universe, known as time-domain astronomy. Credit: NASA, ESA, Matthias Stute, Margarita Karovska, Davide De Martin, Mahdi Zamani, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)
Hubble Space Telescope Sees a Stellar Volcano
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured a vivid close-up of one of the most active stars in our galaxy, weaving a huge spiral pattern among the stars.
Located about 700 light-years from Earth, the binary star system known as R Aquarii experiences violent eruptions that blast out huge filaments of glowing gas. These twisted outflows of stellar material make the area resemble an out-of-control lawn sprinkler. This dramatic and colorful display illustrates how the universe redistributes the products of nuclear energy from deep within stars, ejecting it back into space.
Stellar Mechanics of R Aquarii
R Aquarii belongs to a class of double stars called symbiotic stars. The primary star is an aging red giant and its companion is a compact burned-out star known as a white dwarf. The red giant primary star is classified as a Mira variable that is over 400 times larger than our Sun. The bloated monster star pulsates, changes temperature, and varies in brightness by a factor of 750 times over a roughly 390-day period. At its peak, the star is blinding at nearly 5,000 times our Sun’s brightness.
When the white dwarf star swings closest to the red giant along its 44-year orbital period, it gravitationally siphons off hydrogen gas. This material accumulates on the dwarf star’s surface until it undergoes spontaneous nuclear fusion, making that surface explode like a gigantic hydrogen bomb. After the outburst, the fueling cycle begins again.
This video features five frames spanning from 2014 to 2023 of R Aquarii, a symbiotic binary star that lies approximately 700 light-years from Earth in the constellation Aquarius. These frames show the brightness of the central binary changing over time due to strong pulsations in the red giant star. The central structures can also be seen to be spiraling outwards due to their interaction with material previously ejected by the binary. Credit: NASA, ESA, Matthias Stute, Margarita Karovska, Davide De Martin, Mahdi Zamani, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)
Dramatic Eruptions and Stellar Evolution
This outburst ejects geyser-like filaments shooting out from the core, forming weird loops and trails as the plasma emerges in streamers. The plasma is twisted by the force of the explosion and channeled upwards and outwards by strong magnetic fields. The outflow appears to bend back on itself into a spiral pattern. The plasma is shooting into space over 1 million miles per hour – fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in 15 minutes! The filaments are glowing in visible light because they are energized by blistering radiation from the stellar duo.
Hubble first observed the star in 1990. R Aquarii was resolved into two very bright stars separated by about 1.6 billion miles. The ESA/Hubble team now has made a unique timelapse of R Aquarii’s dynamic behavior, from observations spanning from 2014 to 2023. Across the five images, the rapid and dramatic evolution of the binary star and its surrounding nebula can be seen. The binary star dims and brightens due to strong pulsations in the red giant star.
Extending Astronomical Boundaries
The scale of the event is extraordinary even in astronomical terms. Space-blasted material can be traced out to at least 248 billion miles from the stars, or 24 times our solar system’s diameter. Images like these and more from Hubble are expected to revolutionize our ideas about such unique stellar “volcanoes” as R Aquarii.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been in operation for over 30 years, consistently making groundbreaking discoveries that deepen our understanding of the universe. Hubble is a collaborative project between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, oversees the telescope and its mission operations, with support from Lockheed Martin Space in Denver, Colorado. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, manages Hubble’s scientific operations for NASA, and is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.
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4 Comments
This video features the central structures spiral outward due to their interaction with material previously ejected by the binary.
VERY GOOD. Topological vortices can self-organize forming complex spacetime structures via synchronous interactions.
The physical nature of space is an ideal fluid. It is the material basis and origins of the world we live in. A space with ideal fluid physical characteristics can form vortices through topological phase transitions, which is not difficult to understand mathematically. Based on ideal fluids, numerical simulations of vortex flow and heat exchange can be established. For example, RNG k – ε model, Realizable k – ε model, etc. have been widely applied in various engineering simulations to solve practical problems encountered in daily work.
All things follow certain laws, which can be revealed through observation and research ( such as topological structures ). When physics is passionate about studying imaginary particles and things, it is no longer much different from theology.
Scientific research guided by correct theories can help people avoid detours, failures, and exaggeration. The physical phenomena observed by researchers in experiments are always appearances, never the natural essence of things. The natural essence of things needs to be extracted and sublimated based on mathematical theories via appearances , rather than being imagined arbitrarily.
Everytime scientific revolution, the scientific research space brought by the new paradigm expands exponentially. Physics should not ignore the analyzable physical properties of topological vortices.
(1) Traditional physics: based on mathematical formalism, experimental verification and arbitrary imagination.
(2) Topological Vortex Theory (TVT): Although also based on mathematics (such as topology), it focuses more on non intuitive geometry and topological structures, challenging traditional physical intuition.
Topological Vortex Theory (TVT) points out the limitations of the Standard Model in describing the large-scale structure of the universe, proposes the need to consider non-standard model components such as dark matter and dark energy, and suggests that topological vortex fields may be key to understanding these phenomena. Topological vortex theory (TVT) heralds innovative technologies such as topological electronics, topological smart batteries, topological quantum computing, etc., which may bring low-energy electronic components, almost inexhaustible currents, and revolutionary computing platforms, etc.
Topology tells us that topological vortices and antivortices can form new spacetime structures via the synchronous effect of superposition, deflection, or twisting of them. Mathematics does not tell us that there must be God particles, ghost particles, fermions, or bosons present. When physics and mathematics diverge, arbitrary imagination will make physics no different from theology. Topological vortex research reflections on the philosophy and methodology of science help us understand the nature essence of science and the limitations of scientific methods. This not only has guiding significance for scientific research itself, but also has important implications for science education and popularization.
Today, so-called official (such as PRL, Nature, Science, PNAS, etc.) in physics stubbornly believes that two sets of cobalt-60 rotating in opposite directions can become two sets of objects that mirror each other, is a typical case that pseudoscience is rampant and domineering.
Please witness the exemplary collaboration between theoretical physicists and experimentalists (https://scitechdaily.com/microscope-spacecrafts-most-precise-test-of-key-component-of-the-theory-of-general-relativity/#comment-854286). Let us continue to witness with facts the dirtiest and ugliest era in the history of human social sciences and humanities. The laws of nature will not change due to misleading of certain so-called academic publications or endorsements from certain so-called scientific awards.
As some comments have stated ( https://scitechdaily.com/super-photons-unveiled-sculpting-light-into-unbreakable-communication-networks/#comment-861546 ): Fortunately, we have enough pieces to put the puzzle together properly, and there are folks who have chosen to forego today’s societal structures in order to do exactly that.
Additionally, some comments have stated ( https://scitechdaily.com/science-made-simple-what-is-nuclear-fission/#comment-862083 ): You have been spewing this type of nonsensical word salad for several years now. Outrage doesn’t equal competence. If anything, your inability to convince anyone is a sign of your incompetence. Ask the commenter：Today, so-called official (such as PRL, Nature, Science, PNAS, etc.) in physics stubbornly believes that two sets of cobalt-60 rotating in opposite directions can become two sets of objects that mirror each other, and it even won awards. These so-called academic publications blatantly talk nonsense, which is a public humiliation of the normal intellectual level of the public. Do you think this is human misfortune or personal misfortune?
Isn’t this the evil consequence of the Physics Review family misleading science? Academic circle is not Entertainment industry. Have some people really never know what shame is?
Thanks for sharing. I will look into TVT. The Standard Model is struggling. Dr. Pierre-Marie Robitaille has done some solid work in our understanding of stars (not gases, but condensed matter). Seeing how he is attacked for doing solid science is disheartening.
TVT is pseudoscience, is not a description of reality.
Interesting. To compare man’sconcept of science, or, scientology the study of
To theology, the study of God.
Laws of the created heavens and earth operate as created not as if a scientist could explain them.
However, many scientists are not enabled to know God as they are not enabled to comprehend his laws. There is good science and junk science.