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Destroying a star: Astronomers witness a cosmic demolition.

ReutersJune 23, 2023

Astronomers Witness Stellar Death by Demolition Derby

By Will Dunham

Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery, observing an immensely energetic explosion originating from an ancient galaxy. This explosion, known as a gamma-ray burst, is believed to be caused by the collision of two compact stars near a supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center. These compact stars, suspected to be neutron stars, possess the mass of our sun but are condensed into a sphere the size of a city.

“Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the universe. They release more energy per unit time than any other known cosmic phenomena,” explained astrophysicist Wen-fai Fong of Northwestern University. These bursts emit light across the electromagnetic spectrum, with gamma-rays being the first type of light observed.

The immense gravitational forces exerted by the black hole disrupt the motion of nearby stars and objects, increasing the likelihood of collisions. This chaotic environment resembles a demolition derby, leading to the destruction of stars in a way that was previously unknown.

New Path to Stellar Demise

Typically, stars die in predictable ways based on their mass. Very massive stars undergo a supernova blast, leaving behind neutron stars or black holes. Relatively low-mass stars, like our sun, transform into white dwarfs. However, this recent discovery reveals an alternative path to stellar death through collisions in extremely dense regions.

For over 40 years, scientists have theorized that stars could die through collisions, but observational evidence had been lacking. The researchers used data from orbiting and ground-based telescopes to study the gamma-ray burst in an ancient galaxy located 3 billion light-years away from Earth.

“The galaxy is what we call ‘quiescent’ – a galaxy that is not actively forming stars at a high rate and is past its heyday,” said Fong. “These quiescent galaxies are very massive and have built up large supermassive black holes in their centers, making them a perfect breeding ground for stellar collisions.”

While witnessing such an event would be dangerous, astronomer Andrew Levan of Radboud University described the process: “You would see the two neutron stars get ever closer until their gravity deforms them and they begin to shred. Then the cores of the stars would merge to make a black hole, surrounded by a disc of the remaining material. A fraction of a second later, this material would flow into the black hole, and a jet of material moving at 99.99% of the speed of light would launch, resulting in the gamma-ray burst.”

(Reporting by Will Dunham, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)

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